Out Of Time
by Irony-chan
Summary: Kagome tries to return to the feudal age, but finds that somehow, many years have passed in her absence. Inuyasha is missing, Kaede is dead, the others are scattered, and her only help is from friends so old, they may as well be strangers!
1. Chapter One: Heading Home

It was a bright, cool autumn morning in feudal Japan. The sun was high in a perfect, crystal-blue sky full of big, puffy white clouds, shinning down on a forest of trees decked out in cheerful autumn reds and yellows. Except for the chirping of a few birds, there was not a single sound to disturb the early-morning tranquility...  
  
...at least, not until Kagome shouted "_sit_!"   
  
A shower of leaves came fluttering down as Inuyasha's face hit the ground. "You bitch," he snarled as he picked himself up.   
  
Kagome pretended she hadn't heard, and turned around to finish tying the handlebars of her bicycle to the rope and pulley system she'd rigged up above the well. "I'm only going to be gone until Saturday," she reminded the hanyou. "You're a big boy; I think you can survive five days without me."   
  
He spat out a mouthful of grass. "Why five?" he demanded, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. "Usually you never take more than three."   
  
"Usually I don't have final exams," Kagome replied. "I have to take all these tests, or I'll be held back a year."   
  
"So what?" asked Inuyasha.   
  
Shippou, who had been sitting on the rim of the well watching the argument, leapt into the nearest patch of shrubbery as Kagome whirled around to look Inuyasha in the eye. "_So what_?" she echoed, unable to believe she'd just heart that. "What do you mean, _so what_? I'll have to take the tenth grade all over again! All my friends will move on a year and I won't, and everybody will think I'm a moron, that's _so what_! I'm not planning on spending the rest of my life chasing after bits of the _Shikon no Tama_, you know. I have to think about my future! _Sit_!"   
  
He swore as he was forced to do another nose-dive.   
  
"Now stay," Kagome added firmly. "Good boy!" She lowered her bicycle into the well, and turned to Shippou, who was peeking nervously out of the bushes. "Shippou, keep an eye on him while I'm gone, would you? Make sure he behaves himself."   
  
"Yes, Ma'am," said Shippou.   
  
Inuyasha looked furious. "I do not need to be babysat!" he raged. "Especially not by a child!"   
  
"Why not?" asked Kagome. "He's a lot more mature than you are!" She climbed up onto the rim of the well and swung her legs over the side. "I'll be back first thing on Saturday morning, all right?" And without waiting for a reply, she dropped out of sight.   
  
"You'd better be!" Inuyasha grabbed the edge of the well and shouted into it, "or I'm going to come and get you!"   
  
But Kagome was gone.  
  


* * *

  
For some reason – Kagome had no idea why – the seasons in the feudal era were not quite in sync with those in her own time. Instead, they seemed to be off by about four months, so that late autumn 'then' was early summer 'now'... and the dark interior of the shed was baking hot and stuffy. Even with a matching pulley on this end, getting her bike out of the well was sweaty work; by the time she'd dragged it to the top, her hair was sticking to her neck and she badly wanted a bath.   
  
"I'm home!" she announced as she opened the back door... and let out a wonderful smell of cabbage and bacon cooking. Her stomach growled.   
  
"Hi, honey!" Mrs. Higurashi called from the kitchen. A moment later she appeared around the corner, drying her hands on a towel. "How was your weekend?"   
  
"Oh, about the usual," replied Kagome. She'd fought a few youkai, recovered a couple of Jewel shards, and met some people who, in modern-day Tokyo, would probably have been considered insane... all in a day's work, really. "Do I smell _okonomiyaki_?" she asked.   
  
"That's right," said her mother, smiling. "We're just about to have lunch. Come and sit down."   
  
Kagome's mouth watered... but she _really_ needed to wash. "I think I'll take a bath first," she said. "Just start without me."   
  
"Are you sure?"   
  
"Yes. I'll be quick," she promised, and hurried up the stairs.   
  
It was difficult to hurry, however, when it was such a hot day and the cool water felt so nice. Kagome didn't get to bathe nearly often enough in the feudal age – she and her friends spent so much time traveling that most washing had to be cold river water and no soap. Only rarely were they able to stop in towns where there were proper bathhouses... and when they did, Inuyasha complained endlessly about the delay.   
  
Inuyasha. Kagome slouched in the tub, sinking into the water up to her chin. That jerk! What on Earth was the matter with him? He was like a... she resisted the temptation to use the phrase 'lost puppy'... he was like a little kid who didn't want Mommy to leave him at the daycare. Kagome had a life and responsibilities in her own time... Miroku, Sango, and even Shippou accepted that she needed to come and go. Why couldn't Inuyasha?   
  
An idea occurred to her that perhaps she ought to just stop _telling_ him when she was planning on leaving. That way, she could just slip out while he wasn't watching, and not have to listen to his ranting and raging. Yeah, right; that would seem like a great idea... right up until she came _back_. The silly idiot would pitch a fit the next time he saw her, and would probably start keeping a constant watch. With his sensitive ears and nose on her all the time, Kagome would never manage to sneak past him again.   
  
What he needed, she thought, was to stop his whining already and get a _life_... or failing that, at least a hobby; something to keep his mind off of things while she wasn't there. Maybe he should take up origami or something.   
  
"Kagome!" Mrs. Higurashi called. "Your _okonomiyaki_ is getting cold!"   
  
"I'm coming!" Kagome replied. Reluctantly, she dragged herself out of the bath and put on some clean clothes. "Stupid jerk," she muttered, watching the water go down the drain. It would just serve him right if she came back late... or even not at all.   
  
As she stumbled downstairs, Kagome remembered why she didn't usually take a bath right after coming home from the feudal age – somehow, the combination always seemed to leave her exhausted. She was yawning as she entered the kitchen, where her mother, grandfather, and brother were kneeling on three sides of the table, working their way through plates of _okonomiyaki_ and rice.   
  
"Ah, there you are!" Mrs. Higurashi smiled. "We were starting to wonder if you'd drowned! Here... I tried to keep it warm for you."   
  
"Thank you," replied Kagome, accepting the offered food. She poured herself a glass of water, and sat down opposite from Souta.   
  
"So, did anything exciting happen this week?" her mother asked.   
  
"Well..." she thought for a moment. "Shippou made a friend. He got this letter, you see, inviting him to participate in a duel..." she alternated between mouthfuls of her lunch and relating the story of how Shippou and the little thunder yasha had fought over the crayons. "It was so _cute_!" she added, smiling as she remembered the girl and her adorable pet dragon. "They wore each other right out, so then he surrendered and gave her the box. I promised I would bring him another one when I got back."   
  
Mrs. Higurashi laughed delightedly. "You'll have to bring some more of these people home with you sometime, Kagome," she said. "I'd love to meet them all."   
  
"Er... I'm not sure I can," said Kagome. "I don't know if anyone besides me and Inuyasha can use the well." Probably a good thing if they couldn't, she thought, as a half a dozen rather dreadful mental images ran through her head. She could only imagine what her friends might do if she brought them to her time; Shippou would probably stay out of trouble just so long as he had candy and crayons, but the others... it was hard to avoid picturing Sango trying to carry her boomerang through a shop and sweeping things off the shelves by accident. Or worse, Miroku at school, surrounded by girls in short skirts and flirting with anyone within earshot!   
  
"Maybe you ought to take a camera with you next time," Souta suggested. "Then we could at least see pictures of them."   
  
"Oh, now there's an idea!" said Mrs. Higurashi. "What do you think, Kagome?"   
  
Kagome nodded. "Maybe I'll do that," she said, wondering how Inuyasha would react to getting his picture taken. A scene from _Fushigi Yuugi_ rose unbidden to mind; Tasuki pointing at a photograph of himself and shouting, "that's not me! That's an imposter!"   
  
"Then remind me to look for the camera this week," her mother said. "We'll need to buy film, too... I don't think we have any."   
  
"I'll try to remember," Kagome picked the last few grains of rice out of the bottom of her bowl and put them in her mouth, then yawned. "I need to study this afternoon, but first I think I'd better take a nap."   
  
Her mother stood up and started gathering up the empty dishes. "Yes, you sound like that would be a good idea," she agreed. "We'll not disturb you, then. Come on, Souta... help me with the dishes."   
  
"But I've been doing it all weekend!" the boy protested. "Kagome's home now!"   
  
"Kagome's had a rough few days and she's tired," said Mrs. Higurashi firmly. "You head for bed, honey. We'll clean up."   
  
"Thanks, Mom." Kagome stood and stretched, then headed upstairs for what she felt was definitely a well-deserved sleep.


	2. Chapter Two: Interlude and ArmWrestling

"Time's up!" announced the teacher. "Pencils down, everybody."  
  
Kagome brushed a little pile of eraser rubbings off her desk and smiled as zipped up her pencil case, very pleased with herself, indeed. Her schoolbooks had been an awful lot of extra weight to drag around with her on her travels, and on top of that she'd had to listen to Inuyasha's constant complaining about how she'd rather read than search for Naraku or Shikon no Tama... but it had all paid off. The exam hadn't been a piece of cake by any means, but it wasn't nearly so difficult as she'd feared, and she had high hopes for getting a decent grade.   
  
"Pass your papers forward, please," said the teacher. "And I'd like a few volunteers," he added, "for..."   
  
"I will!" Kagome said immediately, putting her hand up. She didn't much care what the task was – it had been so long since she'd been able to help with _anything_ at school. As long as she was here, she should at least try to make up for all the days of cleaning duty she'd missed.   
  
The teacher laughed. "Slow down, Higurashi," he said. "I need a few volunteers to move the desks aside – the dance club is meeting in this room after class today, and they need the floor cleared."   
  
Kagome waved her hand in the air. "I'll do it!" she said.   
  
"Yes, thank you, Higurashi." He motioned for her to lower her arm. "Anybody else."   
  
Ayumi put her hand up. "We'll help, too!" she said, glancing at Eri and Yuka, each of whom nodded assent. "We can't let Kagome do it herself... not when she only just got out of the hospital!"   
  
"Yeah!" Yuka nodded.   
  
"And me," added Houjou, raising his own hand. "I'll be happy to help, too."   
  
The teacher smiled. "Excellent," he said, nodding. "Higurashi, Matsumoto, Itou, Miyagi, and Houjou can clear the room – the rest of you may go."   
  
The formerly quite room was suddenly full of sounds as the students stood up and started putting their things away. Kagome stuffed her pencil case and calculator into her backpack and did up the zipper, trying to resist the temptation to look at Houjou... but eventually it got too be too much and she glanced up to see him there, smiling at her as he stacked up his own things.   
  
She groaned inwardly – Kagome liked Houjou, she really did. He was a sweet guy, and yet... and yet there was something about him. The way he always seemed to just _be_ there, hanging around as if he had nothing better to do. Something about the very fact that he _was_ sweet and devoted and well-spoken and most of the other things on Kagome's list of what would make an ideal boyfriend. She honestly wasn't sure exactly what the problem was... but whatever you called it, it was really, _really_ starting to get on her nerves.   
  
And probably no wonder; all else aside, she certainly had to admire the boy's persistence. She'd stood him up on their first date, run out on him halfway through the second, and turned him down repeatedly... yet he kept trying. His tenacity was somewhere between endearing and infuriating – after all, what if she really _hadn't_ been interested in him? How many 'no's would somebody have to say to this boy before he got the idea?   
  
Kagome felt rather as if she were on display in a zoo as she stacked desks on top of each other, trying her best to keep her back towards Houjou. She had the horrible feeling that if she looked at him again, he would ask her to another movie – couldn't he think of _anything_ else to do on a date? – and her friends, naturally, were just waiting for him to do so, so that they could talk her into accepting. Fortunately, she didn't mean to be dragged into it this time; she'd come prepared with excuses.   
  
She put a fourth desk on top of the three she'd already piled up, and lifted the whole lot to carry to the side of the room.   
  
"_Ka_gome!" gasped Eri.   
  
"Hmm?" Kagome turned her head to look at her friend, and realized that Eri was not the only one who looked startled; all three of her friends plus Houjou were staring at her as if she'd just turned green. "What's the matter?" she asked.   
  
A moment after voicing the question, she realized what the answer was; the desks were heavy. Eri, Yuki, and Ayumi were only taking one at a time, and even Houjou only had two. "Kagome," Ayumi said admiringly, "have you been working out?"   
  
"Um," said Kagome. "Well... yes, I suppose I have." After all, she'd been spending weeks at a time walking, running, biking, climbing, swimming, and fighting her way all over medieval Japan – if that didn't count as a workout, she didn't want to know what did. And then there was her archery, too... she hadn't thought of her increased skill with a bow as exercise, but the string had gotten much easier to pull the more she practiced. She must've built up some muscles. "Yes," she repeated. "I've been exercising a lot."   
  
Yuka looked worried. "Is that good for you?" she asked. "I mean, with your heart condition and all?"   
  
Heart condition? She was going to have to have a few words with her grandfather. "The doctors told me I needed to work out and make my heart muscles stronger," she explained. "That should help me get better faster."   
  
"Ohhh," Eri nodded. "Roll up your sleeves, let's take a look!"   
  
Kagome unbuttoned her cuff and pushed her sleeve back so she could 'flex' for her friends. The muscles didn't look any different to _her_, but Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi all seemed terribly impressed – each took a turn squeezing her arm, and then congratulated her on her health.   
  
"If exercise will make you well," Eri said delightedly, "then you should be better in no time!"   
  
"Well, I do have to go back to the hospital on Saturday morning for some tests," Kagome warned them. "And I'll probably be away again next week..."   
  
Ayumi made a face. "Ouch... sick all summer, too. That won't be any fun."   
  
"Hey, Higurashi," said Houjou.   
  
Oh, boy... here it came. "Yes?" asked Kagome. She looked up, and saw to her surprise that he was rolling up his own sleeves. He sat down at one of the remaining desks and held his arm out to her.   
  
"I'll arm-wrestle you," he said.   
  
Kagome just blinked. "Arm-wrestle?"   
  
"Oh, good idea!" exclaimed Yuka. "And Kagome, if he wins, you have to go out with him!"   
  
"And you aren't allowed to stand him up this time," Eri added.   
  
"Or disappear on him," said Ayumi.   
  
"B-but," Kagome protested. "No, I really can't..." this was why she'd been trying not to talk to Houjou! She couldn't afford any more time in the present. Inuyasha had said he'd come and get her if she wasn't back on time...   
  
"Sure, you can!" her friends said in unison.   
  
"I'm ready," said Houjou, flexing his elbow.   
  
Kagome sighed – well, she'd just have to be sure to win, then. "Oh, all right." She pulled up another chair, sat down opposite from him and hooked her hand through his. "Okay," she said. "Any time."   
  
"Ready?" asked Eri.   
  
"Set," added Ayumi.   
  
"Go!" all three girls shouted at once.   
  
If they'd been expecting any sort of a 'show', they were sadly disappointed – the wrestling match was over almost immediately. Kagome gripped Houjou's hand, pushed... and half a second later, his knuckles hit the table with what must have been a rather painful thump. "Ow!" he exclaimed.   
  
"I'm sorry!" Kagome let go. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"   
  
"No, I'm fine." He grinned and started to stand up. "You win, Hi... OW!" He'd tried to straighten his arm, and as he did, something inside it went 'pop'! "Ow! Oh... wow," he panted, doing his best to keep smiling as he grabbed his elbow. "Wow, you really _have_ been working out!"   
  
"Are you okay?" asked Kagome, horrified.   
  
"Sure I'm..." he tried to bend the arm again, and inhaled sharply. "Oooh..."   
  
"Oh, my gosh... I'm so sorry!" Kagome looked around in a panic, but her friends had no help to offer; they were just standing there staring with eyes as round as saucers. "You need to go to the infirmary! Guys, can you finish with the desks by yourselves?"   
  
The girls nodded mutely. "Sure," said Eri.   
  
"Good," Kagome said. "Houjou, I'll take you to see the nurse."   
  
"Right," Yuka said vaguely. All three stood very still, watching, as Kagome escorted Houjou – who was still gritting his teeth and trying very hard not to move his elbow – out of the room.   
  
"Y'know," Ayumi said slowly. "Do you ever get the feeling that there's something Kagome isn't telling us?"   
  
Eri and Yuka nodded. "Sometimes," said the latter. "Like I kind of wonder... if she's sick all the time, how come she always seems to have such a nice tan?"   
  
"Mm," agreed Eri. "And when does she find the time to see those other friends she keeps talking about... the two boys who always fight, and the pervert and the girl whose brother died?"   
  
"And how come we never get to meet any of these people," Ayumi added. "Even if they live across town, like she says... you'd think she could find _some_ chance to introduce us."   
  
Yuka sighed. "Well," she said, "I suppose if she sees them so much, they're probably in the hospital a lot, too..." She looked at her feet, then brightened as she got an idea. "Hey, she said she'd be back there for tests on Saturday morning! We should drop in and visit her!"   
  
"Oh, that's a great idea!" Eri said. "And if her friends are there, we can meet them, too!"   
  
"And we'll take Houjou along, since she never seems to have time to see him," Ayumi finished. "All right, then... it's a date!" 


	3. Chapter Three: The Return

Houjou showed up for school on Friday morning with his arm in a sling and a foam brace fitted to the elbow. Kagome kept her eyes resolutely focused on the end of her pencil as he crossed the classroom and took his seat. If she looked at him, he'd talk to her, and if he talked to her, she would probably die of humiliation on the spot. It was bad enough knowing that the entire school was talking about yesterday's arm-wrestling match; if he said so much as a word to her, she was simply and utterly going to _die_.  
  
"Good morning, Higurashi!" he greeted her.   
  
She looked up at his smiling face, and decided that dying would have been a mercy; it would have saved her from having to answer him. "Good morning," she replied, as cheerfully as she could manage – which wasn't very. "Um. How's your arm?"   
  
"Oh, don't worry about it. It's fine." He patted the brace. "The doctor said you didn't tear the ligaments, so as long as I don't try to play baseball with it or anything, it should be better in no time."   
  
Kagome managed to return his smile. "That's good to hear."   
  
He nodded. "Say," he added, "I know you won the arm-wrestle, but I don't suppose it would be too much to ask if you could go to a movie with me this weekend anyway? There's a new one out that I think you'd really like; it's set in the Shogun period, and I know you're into history and stuff. What do you say?"   
  
She stared at him. Honesty, what did it _take_ to discourage this boy? Here she'd nearly broken his arm yesterday, and he still wanted to go out with her? What kind of a masochist _was_ he? "I'm sorry," she said, "but I told you – I have to go back to the hospital for some tests. Maybe some other time?"   
  
It would have made her feel better if, for once, he could at least look disappointed... but his expression did not even flicker. "I understand," he told her. "It's got to be tough being so sick when you're still in Junior High... but I'm not in a hurry. We can have a date sometime when you're feeling better."   
  
"Great. I'll look forward to it," said Kagome... but once his back was turned, she covered her face with both hands and fought to keep from screaming. _Why_ couldn't she meet a _normal_ boy? Just one? Between Inuyasha and Houjou… the former had no redeeming qualities at all (well, okay, maybe a few... but still) and the latter was composed of nothing but. If she could have somehow combined the two of them, the result might be one almost bearable human being.   
  
Kagome had absolutely no idea how she managed to survive the rest of the day. Time seemed to pass so slowly that she began to honestly wonder if the classroom's clock had broken; she could have sworn its hands were gradually grinding to a stop. By the time the bell finally rang to signify the end of the day's classes, she no longer cared if the teacher needed volunteers for anything – she could make it up later, like she'd been promising herself for the last six months. Right now, all she wanted was to get _out_, as quickly as possible.   
  
"Hey, Kagome!" she heard Yuka's voice behind her as she all but ran out of the classroom. "Wait up!"   
  
"Sorry!" she called back. "I've... I've got an appointment! I'll see you later!" She stopped for just long enough to wave, then hurried out the door.   
  


* * *

  
That evening, Kagome packed up her backpack and then went to bed early – she needed to get plenty of sleep and then be up with the sun tomorrow, because she had a feeling Inuyasha wouldn't wait any longer than that before making good on his threat to come and get her. She set her clock radio to go off at 6 AM, turned the light off, slid under the covers and closed her eyes...   
  
... and found that she couldn't sleep. It wasn't that she was not tired, because she was, very much so, but despite her best efforts to nod off, her brain was too busy thinking to let her. High on the list of things occupying it was Houjou's arm. How embarrassing! She tried to take some comfort in the fact that he didn't seem to be angry with her, but that didn't work very well when it was Houjou; she had yet to see what _would_ make him mad, and if a nearly broken arm didn't do it... well, then she didn't want to know what would.   
  
Well, at least she wouldn't have to look at him – or anybody else who'd seen or heard about the arm-wrestling match – for a few days. That was one nice thing about the feudal era, anyway... the people there were generally too busy staying alive to worry about anyone's embarrassing secrets.   
  
And when she'd finally managed to forget about Houjou, there was Inuyasha. Kagome did not like to admit it, but she tended to worry about him when she was away. He was entirely too good at getting himself into trouble, and without cooler heads around to keep him from being rash, absolutely abysmal at getting out of it. The memories of an incident when she'd made it back to his age just _barely_ in time to save him from the forest guardian were far too fresh in her mind. And here she'd been gone five days – what might he have gotten himself into?   
  
Eventually, she shoved Inuyasha out of her thoughts... only to have Houjou come back again. The two seemed to run circles in her head for hours and hours as she tossed and turned. She must have fallen asleep eventually, though, because she was jolted awake again when her alarm went off.   
  
She sat up straight, blinking into the darkness – sure enough, the glowing numbers on her clock said 6:00, and the radio was playing a particularly hyperactive pop song. Kagome turned it off and pulled the covers up to her chin, intending to doze for a moment. She felt like she'd had no sleep at all; her eyes were itching and her head ached... and even if they hadn't, Strawberry JAM was no way to start a morning.   
  
It seemed like only a moment later when she woke again, her mother shaking her gently. "Kagome?" asked Mrs. Higurashi. "Honey, wake up."   
  
Kagome opened her eyes, then quickly closed them again – her mother had turned the light on, and it felt painfully bright. "What?" she moaned.   
  
"Sorry," Mrs. Higurashi said, "but I thought I'd better come and get you up. You said you wanted to leave early today."   
  
"Hmm?" Still half asleep, Kagome glanced at the clock and wondered why in the world her mother was up at all – it was still only 6:15. She started to lower her head onto the pillow again, but then noticed something out of the corner of her eye... and sat up, suddenly wide awake, as she realized to her horror that what she'd thought was a '6' was actually a '9'!   
  
"I slept in!" she exclaimed. Inuyasha was going to be furious... if he wasn't downstairs devouring ramen and waiting for her. Maybe that was why her mother had come to wake her up. "Is Inuyasha here?" she asked.   
  
"No, he isn't." Mrs. Higurashi shook her head. "Were you expecting him?"   
  
"Not really." Kagome breathed out in relief – so he hadn't come to drag her back yet... but she was betting that if she wasn't in the well by 9:30, he would be. "Thank you!" she called to her mother as she dashed out of the room to bathe and dress.   
  
She got ready in record time – it took her barely ten minutes to wash, brush her teeth, and get into her school uniform. Her hair was still damp as she hurried down the stairs to where her mother was waiting at the bottom, holding her backpack.   
  
"Here," she offered it to Kagome. "I checked to make sure you have everything, and I put a couple of sandwiches in there, since I thought you might not have time to eat. Just be sure to bring the Tupperware back, all right?"   
  
"Thanks!" Kagome grabbed the bag and swung it onto her shoulders.   
  
"Remember to be careful!" Mrs. Higurashi added, as Kagome quickly kissed her on the cheek and then ran out the back door. "Don't drink the water until you boil it first, and come back straight away if you're hurt... and be more careful with your backpack. Don't get it wet, or you'll ruin the camera!"   
  
"Yes, Mom!"   
  
Kagome unlocked her bicycle and dragged it up the steps. In her hurry, she was having a hard time keeping her backpack and her quiver both on her shoulders, so she took the latter off and looped its straps around the bike's handlebars, then lowered both into the well. When the rope slackened, signifying that they'd hit the bottom, she climbed in after them and, about halfway down the ladder, let go. Just _climbing_ into the well didn't work for some reason – she had to _fall_ at least for the last few feet.   
  
This time, she seemed to fall for a moment longer than normal, and just as she was starting to wonder if she'd miscounted the rungs on the ladder... she found herself underwater.   
  
With her nerves already frayed by guilt over Houjou, worry over Inuyasha, and dismay over her lateness, it was probably not surprising that Kagome panicked. On a reflex, she tried to inhale... and got nothing but a mouthful of dirty water that tried to go down the wrong tube. She nearly choked on it as she thrashed helplessly, unable to tell how deep she was or even which way was up. It was only good luck and the natural buoyancy of the human body that eventually brought her to the surface of the water.   
  
The first thing she did when she got there – and the only thing she was able to do for some time – was gasp for air. Her eyes were full of muddy water, obscuring her vision. For a few long minutes, she treaded water, panting and blinking, until both the sting in her eyes and the pain in her chest subsided, and she was able to look around.   
  
She was in the well, no doubt about that. Four square walls rose on all sides of her towards a little square of bright blue sky at the top... but it was full of water. What on earth... Kaede had told her it had been over a hundred years since this well had dried up. And there were no vines and no ladder she could have used to climb out.   
  
What had _happened_? 


	4. Chapter Four: Early

Kagome's first idea was that it must have rained while she was gone... but when she thought about it a little more, that didn't really make sense. The water in the well was quite deep; she'd been fully submerged a moment ago, but couldn't remember touching the bottom. That would have had to be an _awful_ lot of rain.  
  
Maybe, she thought with a chill, it had been. Maybe there'd been a floor, or even a typhoon! A lot could happen in five days, especially in an era that didn't have the luxury of daily weather reports! She shuddered to imagine what such a disaster would have to Kaede's little town. Inuyasha would be fine, of course – he would have been able to climb a tree and stay above the waterline... but what would happen to everybody else?   
  
One thing was plain; whatever the source of the water, it had washed away the vines that used to hang down into the well. Kagome was going to need help to climb out. Good thing Inuyasha's ears were so sensitive – if he were anywhere near, he'd be able to hear her. She just hoped he wasn't too busy sulking to come to her rescue.   
  
"Inuyasha!" she called. "Hello! I'm back... could you please come and help me?"   
  
There was no reply.   
  
She tried again. "Inuyasha! It's me, Kagome! I'm in the well, and I need help to climb out! I'm sorry I'm late!" she added, hoping he wasn't purposefully ignoring here. He wouldn't do that if he knew she were in trouble... would he?   
  
"Who's there?" came an answering voice.   
  
Kagome's heart leapt, then sank again as she realized that it wasn't the hanyou; it was too young. But, she reminded herself, it was certainly better than nothing. "It's Kagome!" she repeated. "I'm in the well!"   
  
A small head appeared at the top of the shaft, in black silhouette against the bright blue sky. "What are you doing down there?" the boy asked.   
  
Perhaps there was no such thing as a stupid question... but that one came close. "I'm getting wet, that's what," Kagome replied, a bit cross. "Can you go and tell Kaede or Inuyasha that I'm down here, please?"   
  
The boy nodded. "Just a second," he said, and vanished from her view.   
  
It seemed to take hours before he returned, but when he did, he brought several people with him. One by one, six or seven sets of heads and shoulders appeared at the top of the well. Kagome waved to reassure them she wasn't hurt, but couldn't see any of the people clearly enough to greet them by name.   
  
"See?" the boy asked, excited. "See? I told you! There's a girl down there!"   
  
"Yes, yes," said a woman, "we see. Hey, down there!" she called to Kagome. "Are you all right?"   
  
Kagome nodded. "I'm fine! Just wet."   
  
"Good," said a man. "Just hold on a moment, we're going to lower a rope. You grab that, and we'll pull you up."   
  
A few moments later, the end of a rope did indeed hit the surface of the water. Kagome grabbed it and tied it, as tightly as her freezing fingers would allow, around her waist. "Okay!" she called up. "I'm ready!"   
  
The villagers pulled, and Kagome braced herself against the side of the well, 'walking' slowly up the vertical surface. When she got within reach of the top, half a dozen hands helped her to climb over the side and onto the grass, where she sat a moment trying to catch her breath.   
  
"How'd you end up down there?" somebody wanted to know.   
  
"I jumped in," she replied, struggling to undo the knot at her waist. All the pulling had tightened the rope, and her cold, wet fingers were having a hard time getting a grip.   
  
"Jumped in?" a woman echoed. "What under heaven did you do that for?"   
  
"Because I..." Kagome looked up at the villagers around her, and was startled to see that there were no familiar faces among them. She'd thought she knew every single person who lived in Kaede's tiny village, by sight at least if not by name. And why was everyone _staring_ at her? "What's the matter?" she asked.   
  
"Not from around here, are you?" asked the man who'd announced they would drop the rope.   
  
A twist of panic appeared in the bottom of Kagome's stomach – something was wrong here. Very, _very_ wrong. It was an effort to keep her voice level as she replied: "I'm Kagome. The miko from the future." She swallowed. "You're from Kaede's village, right?"   
  
The man shook his head. "I don't know anybody named Kaede. Or Kagome, for that matter."   
  
Behind him, one woman prodded another. "Look at her clothing," she said in a very loud whisper. "She's hardly decent!"   
  
"Is she some sort of Youkai?" the second woman asked.   
  
Kagome swallowed. "You don't know who I am?"   
  
The man looked her over suspiciously. "Should we?"   
  
She got up, her wet socks squelching unpleasantly inside her sneakers, and looked around. No, there was not one identifiable face among the eight or ten people – men, women, and children – here. Maybe there was another village nearby? But she'd never heard about one, and after all the traveling she'd done, she would have thought she knew this area from top to bottom. So maybe these people were wanderers of some kind? But they were dressed like farmers... one of the women was even carrying a basketful of rice shoots.   
  
Something really was wrong, here... something was _missing_. A tingle passed down Kagome's spine as she tried to figure out what it was.   
  
The tree.   
  
The air temperature seemed to drop sharply, and Kagome suddenly felt rather sick. There was forest all around her... but no sign of Inuyasha's tree! It should have been right in front of her, towering above the rest of the woods.   
  
"Where's the tree?" she asked.   
  
"What tree?" a woman echoed.   
  
"The tree!" Kagome was beginning to panic in earnest. "The holy tree, the one Inuyasha was sealed on!" She turned pleading eyes to her rescuers. "It should be just over there!"   
  
They stared at her, not comprehending. "Inu yasha?" somebody asked, speaking it not as a name but simply as words; 'the weakling youkai dog?'   
  
Kagome looked at each person in turn, but not one of them appeared to have the slightest idea what she was talking about. She was starting to feel as if she couldn't breathe. That tree had _always_ been there... it was thousands of years old! It couldn't possibly vanish!   
  
"I'll be right back," she promised the villagers, then turned and took off running. The tree _had_ to be there, it simply had to. It had still been there when she left home, so it must still be there now; if something had happened to it while she was gone, it would have ceased to exist in her time. She just hadn't looked hard enough...   
  
... and there it was. Relief flooded through Kagome's body in warm waves as she came to the base of it, where its huge, twisted roots protruded from the soil. She leaned against the trunk, feeling the heat it had soaked up from the sunshine, and smiled... it was still here after all. How had she managed to miss it when she'd looked, back at the well?   
  
She stepped back to look up at the spreading the branches, and the cold chill suddenly returned as she realized the answer; it wasn't visible from there because it wasn't tall enough. It was still large and thick, recognizably the same tree, but its branches did not reach noticeably above the forest canopy.   
  
What's more, the spreading leaves were green, not golden. It was summer... but it had been autumn when she left!  
  
Kagome heard rustling behind her, and she turned to find that the villagers had followed her... but now they were keeping their distance, looking at her as if they thought she was crazy. The children were half-hiding behind the adults. Well, now she knew why she didn't recognize them, and why none of them knew who _she_ was.   
  
This was the wrong time. She was early... if the size of the tree was any indication, she was early by hundreds and hundreds of years.   
  


* * *

  
The villagers didn't seem particularly happy with the idea of Kagome accompanying them back to town, but neither did they forbid it. Perhaps they figured that even a madwoman deserved a meal and a place to change out of wet clothes. Whatever the reason, Kagome was grateful for their hospitality. She wouldn't have blamed them for chasing her off into the forest or throwing her back down the well again, but they didn't seem inclined to do anything worse than standing around and staring at her while she ate.   
  
She finished her bowl of rice and set it and her chopsticks down on the floor, then bowed and thanked her hostess. The woman bowed politely in return, but seemed terribly distracted as she picked the dishes up and took them away. Kagome supposed she couldn't blame her... hadn't the people in Kaede's time been just as suspicious of the odd-looking girl who appeared from nowhere?   
  
The kimono they'd lent her was much too big. She tugged at the collar to keep it from falling open, then unzipped her backpack and began going through the contents, as much to give herself some time to think as to see what had been ruined by her brief swim. Obviously, something had gone wrong with the well, and it had taken her to the wrong time. But how could something like that have happened? And more importantly... could she get back? 


	5. Chapter Five: Investigating

Kagome was pleasantly surprised to find that her things were in much better condition than she'd expected; her mother had thoughtfully packed her lunch in Tupperware containers and other items in plastic sandwich bags, and all but one of the seals had held. Her spare clothing was, of course, sopping, and had to be hung up to dry along with her uniform, but nothing was permanently damaged. Even the candies she'd brought for Shippou were safe in their bag.  
  
It was a warm, breezy summer day, and it didn't take very long for the afternoon sun to dry Kagome's clothes. However, when she took them down from the washing line, she discovered that the well water had left everything full of grit. For a moment she considered washing them, but quickly decided against it, and went inside to take off her borrowed kimono and get dressed. She couldn't afford to waste time here – she had to get home as soon as possible. Perhaps her grandfather would be able to figure out what was wrong with the well.  
  
Having finished changing and packed her stuff up again, Kagome returned the kimono and slippers to their owner, and bowed. "Thank you very much for your hospitality," she said formally. "I'm very sorry if I frightened anybody. I didn't mean to, and I hope I won't ever have to do it again."  
  
"Oh, that's quite all right," the woman replied with an anxious smile. There were murmurs of agreement from the other villagers, but they were still a nervous-looking bunch as a great many of them followed Kagome back to the well and watched as she climbed over the lip of it. She wished they would go away – having so many eyes on her, staring as if she were some strange new animal from a faraway zoo, made her want to squirm.  
  
"Goodbye and thank you," she repeated, then turned and peered down into the dark shaft. It looked like an awfully long way down, now that there weren't any vines or a ladder for her to use. But, she reminded herself, she'd fallen all that distance more than once before, when there wasn't any water at the bottom to break her fall, and she'd never suffered anything worse from it than bumps and bruises. She shut her eyes and let go.  
  
As she fell, it occurred to Kagome that she'd probably wasted her time drying her stuff; it was only about to get wet again. Then she hit the surface with a splash, and sank. She kicked her way back to the surface and spat out a mouthful of cold, muddy water. Looking up, she saw that the crowd of villagers was still there – they'd gathered around the top of the well to watch. Slightly annoyed, Kagome waved to them, then took a deep breath and dived under the water. Hopefully, swimming down would work the same as falling... if it didn't, she would be trapped in this time unless she could convince these people to drain the well!  
  
The water was deep. Kagome's lungs felt ready to burst as she kicked her way lower and lower, her hands held out in front of her to search for the bottom. Just as she felt like she would explode if she couldn't breathe in soon, her fingers touched slimy mud. Kagome pushed herself further down, and felt her hands close around what seemed to be a metal bar.  
  
And then she fell flat on her faces as the water abruptly vanished. Relieved, shook water out of her hair, then sat up to examin her surroundings.  
  
She was still soaking wet, and shivering in the chilly air, but was sitting on dry, packed earth, and holding on to... she lifted the object into a beam of sunlight, so to be able to see it better. It was a rounded, hollow piece of metal, caked with rust. When she looked around, she found that there were more of them lying all around her; rusting, twisted, and clearly ancient. Kagome studied them for a moment in puzzlement, having never seen anything like them in the well before... and then realized with a slightly sick feeling that these were the remains of her bicycle! She had been so preoccupied with trying to figure out what had happened, she'd completely forgotten about her bike. Now it had been lying on the bottom of the well for heaven knew how many hundreds of years.  
  
Her mother wasn't going to be happy about that, Kagome thought glumly as she got up and craned her neck back to look at the bright blue sky overhead. Not that Mrs. Higurashi was likely to shout at her – Kagome's mother _never_ shouted – but it had been an expensive bike, a gift for Kagome's fifteenth birthday, and she wasn't likely to get another one soon.  
  
Wait a minute. Kagome did a double-take, looking first at the metal in her hand, then back up above her. Blue sky? That wasn't right! The well in her own time had a roof over it; the sky should not be visible!  
  
She dropped the bar and looked around for something to climb. There was no ladder, but familiar vines were trailing down the sides of the well. Had she ended up back in Inuyasha's time, then? Or... or was she just being taken to random points in history? Kagome grabbed the vines – clumsily, as her palms had begun to sweat – and climbed up for a look.  
  
When she reached the top, she found a world buried under a foot of snow. The trees, including the reassuring silhouette of the holy tree, were completely bare; could they have lost all those leaves in just a week? It was possible... maybe there'd been a windstorm or something...  
  
... but no, she saw when she looked again: there were early flowers poking out of the snow around the base of the well. This was not late autumn. This was early spring. She was still in the wrong time.  
  
Tears of panic welled up in Kagome's eyes. This was absurd! Surely, any moment now she was going to wake up and discover that this had all been a nightmare. She would be safe in her own bed, and Inuyasha would probably be pounding on her bedroom window, shouting at her to get her lazy butt up already. Any moment now...  
  
But it didn't happen. Unable to think of any other course of action, Kagome turned and dropped back into the well again. _This_ time it would work – it had to! Somehow or other, she had to get back to somewhere – make that some_when_ – she recognized.  
  


* * *

  
The hospital lobby was huge and clean, brightly-lit and full of a strong smell of antiseptics. Doctors, patients, and employees were making their way to and fro, some of them pushing intravenous stands or carts of instruments, but all of them purposeful, appearing to know exactly where they were going and what they were doing... all except for the four lost-looking teenagers, gathered around one of a row of pay telephones.  
  
"All right," said Yuka, her disappointment audible. "Thank you very much, Mr. Higurashi." She set the receiver back in its cradle, retrieved her phone card, and shook her head as she turned back to her friends. "Her grandfather says she already left for the hospital."  
  
"Well... maybe she hasn't arrived yet?" Eri suggested.  
  
Yuka shook her head. "She said her appointment was first thing in the morning, remember? If she's not here yet, then she's already missed it."  
  
Eri, Yuka, Ayumi, and Houjou had arrived at the local hospital bright and early, bearing flowers and 'get well' balloons for their friend... only to learn, when they tried to check in at the desk, that there was no 'Kagome Higurashi' in the building, nor was one scheduled to arrive that day.  
  
"Maybe we're at the wrong hospital?" was Eri's next guess.  
  
"But this is the nearest one," said Yuka. "Why would she go anyplace else?"  
  
"Well, she's had a _lot_ of health problems," Eri pointed out. "Maybe she needed to see some specialty doctor or something. Phone again, Yuka, and ask – I'll bet you anything we're just in the wrong spot."  
  
"No, wait," said Ayumi. She frowned and bit her lip, thinking hard... then her eyes opened wide and her hands flew to her mouth. "Oh, no!"  
  
The other three looked at her, puzzled.  
  
"Well, isn't it obvious?" Ayumi asked them. "She's with that _boy_!"  
  
"Oh, my gosh!" exclaimed Yuka.  
  
Houjou just blinked. "What boy?"  
  
"_That_ boy," Ayumi replied. "The one she's always talking about!"  
  
He looked at Eri and Yuka for help, but both seemed to expect him to know something he had clearly missed. "What boy?" he said again.  
  
The three girls heaved a sigh in unison. "That boy," said Yuka. "The one we were saying she ought to introduce us to! She's always telling us about him. How much he annoys her..."  
  
Ayumi nodded. "And how stubborn he is."  
  
"And foul-mouthed," added Eri. "And selfish."  
  
"And jealous," said Ayumi. "Or was that the other one?"  
  
"No, I think that was still him," said Yuka. "Reckless, too."  
  
Houjou stared at them.  
  
"It's perfectly clear now," said Ayumi. "She's been lying to us all this time! She can't do anything after school because she's always out with that boy!"  
  
"She told me she didn't have a boyfriend," Houjou protested weakly.  
  
The girls ignored him. "But if that's true..." Eri began. She paused a moment, and then gasped. "Her grandfather just said she was at the hospital, didn't he? So if she _is_ with the boy, then her family doesn't know about it!"  
  
Ayumi frowned. "What sense does that make?"  
  
"Perhaps her family doesn't approve of him?" offered Eri.  
  
But Yuka shook her head. "That is ridiculous. We've _met_ Kagome's family! She could bring a three-headed ogre home and say it was her boyfriend, and her mother would serve it tea." She sighed. "There's definitely something funny going on here, though."  
  
"Mm," the other two agreed, nodding. Houjou, who was by now confused beyond any hope of recovery, said nothing at all.  
  
"Well, come on," said Yuka. "Let's go to Kagome's house. We have to get to the bottom of this!" 


	6. Chapter Six: Ghost Town

The third time Kagome emerged from the well, she looked up to see a sky burning with brilliant stars. She studied them for a moment, feeling her heart quicken with anticipation – Cygnus and Andromeda were high overhead, with Deneb and Vega shining bright blue-white. Those were autumn constellations. Had it worked? Was she back in a time she recognized?  
  
She shimmied up the vines, and was overjoyed to arrive at the top and find that the pulley she'd set up for getting her bike in and out was present and intact. The rope was gone, but that wasn't too alarming – it wouldn't be the first time somebody from the village had decided they needed a rope and then forgotten to put it back later. And since she didn't have her bike with her anyway, it wasn't even an inconvenience.  
  
A further look around was even more reassuring. The giant tree was exactly where it should have been, towering above the others with bright stars shining through its branches. The ground was covered in autumn leaves, damp as if from recent rain, and more were floating down here and there, dislodged from their branches by the cool night wind. The time of year was definitely right. Kagome could have literally jumped for joy – finally, she'd made it!  
  
But she couldn't stop to celebrate – not yet. Instead, she hitched her backpack up her shoulders and started up the hill towards the village. Now that she was here, there was a lot to do. Obviously, something had gone wrong with the well; exactly what it was, she didn't know, but it certainly wasn't impossible that somebody or something had been messing with it. She would need to find out exactly what had gone wrong and why, and how to keep it from ever happening again.  
  
The logical person to ask about this was, of course, Kaede, so before she did anything else, she had to go to the holy woman's house and talk to her. If Kaede couldn't help, possibly Miroku could. Or one of them would know somebody who might... there certainly wasn't any shortage of mystics in this era.  
  
Of course, any civilized discussion would probably have to wait until after she was done fighting with Inuyasha. He hadn't been at the well waiting for her, so he was probably in the village or the woods somewhere, sulking. As soon as he picked up her scent, he'd be there to give her a piece of his mind. It was half a miracle he hadn't come looking for her...  
  
On _that_ note, Kagome's train of thought came to a sudden, jarring halt. What if he _had_ decided to come and drag her back, only to be sent off to some random point in history by the malfunctioning well? She quickened her pace, taking long strides up the leaf-covered slope. If he _had_ gone, then it was doubly important for her to find out what was the matter and then bring him back as soon as possible. Who knew what kind of trouble he might have gotten into? Wherever – and whenever – he was, Kagome homed he had the sense to stay put and wait for her.  
  
She reached the summit of the hill and looked down on the village... and then it was as if time decided it had not been through enough bizarre calisthenics today and simply stopped cold. The town was not there.  
  
Or, rather, it was... the starlight and the faint glow of the Milky Way allowed her to dimly pick out the rectangular shapes of houses and a road, but they were shapes only. The place was in ruins; roofs were gone, walls were only half-standing, and there were no signs of cooking fires, or of any people or animals. It looked as if the place had been deserted for years.  
  
For a long, long moment, all Kagome could do was stand there in utter shock. What had _happened_? Was she still in the wrong time? Surely the entire village couldn't have been reduced to rubble in less than a week... could it?  
  
Well... yes, actually, it could have. Historians did not call this age _Sengoku Jidai_ – the Era of War in the Countryside – for nothing. Rival factions were fighting each other and the imperial forces all over the island. Kaede's village wasn't strategically important, but that wouldn't have made any difference to an army who thought they might be harbouring spies, or a band of _ronin_. Or the aggressors could just have easily been youkai or mononoke... but clearly, _something_ terrible had happened here.  
  
Kagome hurried down the hill towards what was left. Perhaps, despite the outward appearance of desertion, there was somebody there who could tell her what had happened. No disaster ever killed _everybody_.  
  
But what she saw as she ran up the road towards what had once been a cluster of huts was not at all encouraging. Most of the former walls were barely more than outlines in the dirt. Anything still standing was no more than a couple of feet high, and on inspection she could see that the wood was black and charred. She didn't dare look inside any of the buildings... what would she do if she saw human bones?  
  
Nevertheless, there must be some survivors, even if the odds weren't good that they were nearby. Kagome was frankly amazed by her own clear-headedness as she thought about it... now that she was back in a time she _knew_, she felt like she could handle anything it threw at her. After all, she and her friends had certainly gotten out of worse situations, often with nothing more than bruises to remember them by.  
  
Which meant that whatever had happened here, at least some of her own party would be on the list of survivors. It made good sense that, having escaped the disaster, they would have left the area in case it happened again. But they also would have known that Kagome was due back today, and would obviously be troubled by what she found... in which case, they would either come back for her or else leave some kind of message so she would know where they'd gone.  
  
Then, behind her, Kagome heard a sudden sound of scraping gravel, as if somebody had taken a step. She whirled around, her heart and breathing quickening... but there was nobody there. This was both a relief and at the same time infinitely worse, because it left her wondering if the noise had been real or her imagination. She found feel the back of her neck prickle as she looked at the ghostly shells of the buildings – could this place be haunted?  
  
"Hello?" Kagome asked softly. "Is somebody there?"  
  
There wasn't any answer, but she hadn't expected one. The sound she'd heard probably had some perfectly rational explanation, but she was just uncertain enough to want to get out of the village. She turned and began walking in the same direction she'd come in by, towards the small cemetery on the far side of town.  
  
The noise had given her enough of a start that it took her a moment to remember what she'd been thinking about. If Inuyasha and the others were going to be coming back for her, then the best idea was probably to stay in the vicinity of the village... but there was no way she was going to spend the night in amongst all those creepy burned buildings, particularly when there wasn't any moon...  
  
No moon? She stopped to look at the sky again. When was the new moon? Kagome usually counted, but now she found she couldn't remember. What if it had been a new moon night when the village was attacked?  
  
Fortunately, before she could think too hard about either that or the possibility of gravel-shifting ghosts, she noticed something else. There was a shikon shard nearby.  
  
Not just nearby – _very_ nearby. Kagome really would have preferred not to stop right in the middle of the cemetery, but that was where her sixth sense was telling her the shard was. The impression got stronger and stronger as she wandered between the rows of low mounds – quite a few more of them than she remembered – and before long she was able to place it positively. It was coming from one of the graves; an unmarked plot on the far side of the burial grounds. She stopped in front of the grave and studied it. It did not look fresh; the mound had settled in the middle, and grass was growing on it. There was no headstone, and nothing to suggest that one had ever existed.  
  
How had a shikon shard ended up in a years-old grave? Kagome really couldn't guess. Nor did she have any idea how she was going to get it out. She didn't have a shovel or any other tool she could use to dig with... and even if she'd had, there _was_ a dead person buried here. Could she really dig up a corpse, just to get at a shikon shard? Her adventures in this age had toughened her against a great many things that had once made her squirm, but Kagome still balked at the idea of grave robbing.  
  
No, she couldn't do that, and certainly not now, alone in the middle of the night. She would have to come back once her friends had found her. Miroku or Kaede would certainly know what to do. She would have to find someplace to wait for them, and preferably someplace other than a graveyard. The woods seemed like her best bet; the forest guardian liked her, and as long as she was among the trees, he would probably do his best to make sure nothing happened to her.  
  
There was a low, dim rumbling sound from overhead, and Kagome glanced up to find that the sky had clouded over. Wonderful – on top of everything else, it was going to rain. She wondered for a moment whether anything in her bag would be suitable to use as a makeshift tent... then paused and looked up a second time. Clouded over? That couldn't be right... the sky had been completely clear when she'd gotten here, less than an hour ago. And it had been that way still when she'd checked for the moon, just before noticing the shard... _that_ couldn't have been more than ten minutes ago, fifteen at the most. A village _could_ be destroyed in five days, but a thunderstorm couldn't possibly build up in five minutes.  
  
Yet while she'd been looking at the grave, the sky had somehow become completely overcast, the towering clouds lit from within by flickers of lightning. A phenomenon like that could only mean a certain number of things... the worst of which was a weather youkai. Kagome found her hand reaching instinctively for an arrow, but her quiver wasn't there... it had rotted away in the bottom of the well, possibly centuries ago. She was alone, and she had no weapon.  
  
She had time to try to reassure herself that if there _was_ a youkai, it might not be directing the storm at _her_... and then was abruptly and terrifyingly proven wrong. An earsplitting crack ripped through the air, and Kagome shrieked and fell over backwards, landing right on the grave with the shard in it, as an immense bolt of lighting earthed itself right in front of her. She felt her hair standing on end from the rush of electricity, and a charred smell rose from the ground... was _that_ what had happened to all the people here?  
  
For a moment Kagome sat there blinking furiously as bright spots danced in front of her vision. She wondered if she'd been permanently blinded, but then her eyes began to clear, and she made out a long spear, quivering with its point stuck in the dirt at her feet.  
  
A hand reached out of the darkness and plucked the weapon from the ground, and Kagome looked up to see a tall, dark-haired young woman in armor, staring back down at her with eyes that glowed red-orange in the dark.  
  
"Hello, human," the youkai – it couldn't be anything else – said coldly. Its voice was low, but unmistakably feminine. "Looking for something, are we?" 


	7. Chapter Seven: Late

Confronted with this apparition, Kagome's brain was momentarily frozen, unable to come up with any reaction at all. Then it thawed, and raced over several options, considering and rejecting them in quick succession.  
  
She could ask the youkai who it was and what it wanted, but she had no means of defending herself should it take exception to the question. She could try to fight back with her bare hands, but that would be doomed to failure before it even began. She could beg for mercy, but her attacker didn't look much like the merciful type. She could just sit here and wait to see what happened next, but it seemed likely as not that the youkai would just kill her without any further attempt at conversation.  
  
That left only one other choice. Kagome scrambled to her feet and ran.  
  
The thunder yasha was between Kagome and the woods, so she went in the other direction, back towards the village, slipping and sliding as she tried to keep her balance on the slick mud. She'd been in the cemetery when it attacked her, so perhaps the graves her all it cared about. Maybe she'd be safe in the village...  
  
She'd almost reached the first row of burned-out huts when she heard an odd but almost familiar rushing sound, and a line of blue-green fire sprang up in front of her. The flames threw sharp-edged, dancing shadows that made the charred ruins look more ominous than ever, and illuminated just beyond them the crouched, animal shape of a second youkai. For a split second, Kagome dared to hope it was Inuyasha, but just as quickly she realized it was not. This being was taller, with glowing green eyes and a big, bushy tail. A stranger.  
  
The second youkai rose to his feet, a long, gleaming _wakizashi_ sword held at the ready. But there wasn't any time for Kagome to avoid either him or the fire, not when the thunder yasha might be right behind her. She could only take a deep breath and leap right over the turquoise flames, then duck as the sword missed her by bare inches, passing by with an audible swish.  
  
Kagome's feet slid out from under her and she landed on her face in the mud. She rolled over and opened her eyes in time to see a clawed youkai hand reaching for her neck. More on a reflex than anything else, she kicked the hand's owner in the stomach, then picked herself up again and dashed into the remains of the nearest building.  
  
Most of the wall was still standing here, but not enough to make an effective hiding place. Hiding, however, was not what Kagome had in mind. Whoever had lived here had either died or run away, but maybe they'd left some kind of a weapon behind, or something she could use for one. An arrow would have been best, but Kagome wasn't going to be picky. If she had to hit the youkai over the head with a rice pot, she darned well would.  
  
But there was nothing; the house had not only been burned, it had been _stripped_. Nothing was left, not even a table or stove that ought to have been too heavy to take away. And there was grass growing in the corners... should that be there? The villagers had been poor, but surely they'd taken better care of their homes than that...  
  
At that point in her thoughts, she was knocked over from behind as the female youkai pounced on her. Kagome struggled, hammering ineffectually on its hands with her fists. It was no good – her opponent had a grip like a vise. A hand covered her mouth to keep her from screaming, and Kagome, after a moment's indecision, bit it hard.  
  
The yasha cried out in pain and its grip loosened. Kagome wormed out of the creature's arms and ran out of the hut, taking off her backpack as she went. She must have _something_ in here... what about her camera? In movies, people used a camera to escape from bad guys by setting off the flash right in their faces. That might work doubly well on a youkai's sensitive eyes. She undid the zipper...  
  
Then she was seized a second time, powerful hands pinning her arms to her sides. The backpack flew out of her grip and landed with a 'splat' in the mud, several feet away. Kagome shouted and kicked, trying to get free.  
  
"Watch it!" the yasha's voice said. "She bites!"  
  
The male youkai threw Kagome roughly to the ground, then grabbed her by the clothing and dragged her roughly to her feet again to shove her against the nearest wall. His sword was in his hand, and the female with her spear came running up to join him. More of the blue fire, looking very like Shippou's familiar foxfire only on a far greater scale, sputtered to life in a ring around them, the flames rising higher this time to cut off any escape.  
  
Kagome shut her eyes and gritted her teeth. So this was it, then. She was trapped. She had no companions, no weapons, and the two youkai were clearly furious. If they hadn't been going to kill her anyway, they might well do so now just because her escape attempt had angered them. Where was Inuyasha when she needed him?  
  
A terrible few seconds passed as Kagome stood there with her eyes closed, waiting to die. Any minute now, any moment, she would feel that sword or spear in her stomach. Somebody had once told her that a fatal wound didn't hurt... she hoped it was true.  
  
But the seconds dragged by, each one taking an eternity, and nothing happened. Finally, she could bear the suspense no longer and opened her eyes for a look. She fully expected to be just in time to see the sword come down, but she found instead that both youkai had taken a step back. The female was still half-crouched, ready to attack, but the male had lowered his weapon, and was frowning at Kagome not in anger but in obvious confusion.  
  
By the light of the blue-green flames, Kagome got her first good look at her two enemies. Both were younger than she would have expected, perhaps nineteen or twenty... although she really wasn't all that sure how youkai aging worked. They seemed to grow up at the same rate humans did, and then just stop entirely at some point in their early twenties. These two, however, didn't look like they were quite adults yet. The boy in particular was a bit gangly-looking, as if he hadn't quite grown into his limbs yet.  
  
"_Kagome_?" he asked.  
  
"Huh?" she asked. How did he know her name? "Ye-es," she said slowly. "Who are..."  
  
She stopped short, her mouth falling open. The boy was a fox youkai; he had a long yellow tail and was wearing a vest made out of fur. A narrow, bony face lent him an especially fox-like look, and though the blue firelight made his colouring difficult to determine, his large eyes were definitely green and his short, unevenly trimmed hair might have been auburn. Kagome would not have seen it unless she were looking for it... but now that she _did_ look, there was something very familiar about him indeed.  
  
"Ss-s... _Shippou_?" It took an effort to make the name come out. Kagome's throat had gone suddenly dry, and her voice didn't seem to want to work.  
  
"Kagome!" The boy dropped his sword, and the next thing Kagome knew, she was being lifted right off her feet and hugged. "Kagome!" he repeated, "it's really you! I didn't think I was ever going to see you again!" He let her go and held her at arm's length for a moment to look at her, grinning like a Cheshire cat, then pulled her back in for another rib-crushing hug.  
  
"Kagome?" asked the female youkai. "It can't be!"  
  
"It is!" insisted the boy. "Look!"  
  
Kagome was too stunned to do anything but allow him to turn her around and thrust her forward for his companion's inspection. The thunder yasha turned out to be a tall and startlingly beautiful young woman dressed in armor. Her sleek black hair was pulled severely away from her face into two buns at the nape of her neck.  
  
"Oh, my _word_," she whispered, leaning down to look into Kagome's eyes. She had a very intense gaze and Kagome found she couldn't meet it for long... but as she looked away, the yasha's face broke into a smile. "It _is_ Kagome!" she exclaimed, and then took her own turn at giving the poor confused schoolgirl a hug. "Of all people, you're the last I ever would have thought I'd see here! I'm so sorry – we weren't going to hurt you, really, we only wanted to frighten you away. Do you remember me?"  
  
"No," Kagome replied helplessly, and then realized that she did... possibly. "Yes," she corrected herself. "Maybe. Are you Souten?"  
  
"She remembers me!" the woman said triumphantly.  
  
"Kagome!" The boy caught her arm again. "Kagome, where have you _been_? We were sure you weren't coming back. We all thought you were dead!"  
  
"I... I don't know," Kagome stammered. This didn't seem real. These two could not possibly be Shippou and Souten, the two small children she'd left behind a week ago. Both of them were years older than her, and inches taller! It couldn't _be_! Where – and _when_ – had she ended up? "I... how long have I been gone?" she asked.  
  
"Um." The boy hesitated a moment, thinking about it, then looked at his companion for help. "How old were we when we met?"  
  
She shrugged. "I might have been... six, maybe?"  
  
"No," he shook his head, "no, you were eight. I remember, because when she left I'd just had my birthday, and Inuyasha said he didn't need to be babysat by an eight-year-old. I was a little mad at him, because I'd just turned nine." He bit his lip as he did the arithmetic. "So, that would be..."  
  
Kagome waited.  
  
"Uh..." the boy glanced at her and swallowed. "How long do _you_ think you were gone?"  
  
"I was gone five days," Kagome told him. "I went and took my exams and then came back, but there's something wrong with the well. How long was it here?"  
  
"Well..." he sighed, obviously reluctant to say. "As of the end of this month... I guess that was nine years ago." 


	8. Chapter Eight: No Answers

Within minutes of the two youkai learning Kagome's identity, the clouds had melted away and the sky was once again clear as a bell and full of stars. And half an hour later, the three of them were sitting around a campfire, sheltered from any outside threat by the gleaming red coils of Souten's pet dragon, and Shippou was dishing out soup.  
  
Kagome had been a little nervous about the dragon. The last time she'd seen that creature, it had been only the size of a cat... but nine years was apparently long enough for dragons as well as youkai to grow considerably. Even knowing that Koryu was friendly, there was something definitely unsettling about sitting close to an animal with the approximate dimensions of a commuter train.  
  
Neither Shippou nor Souten particularly seemed to care, though. The former behaved as though the dragon simply didn't exist, while the latter was leaning back against its huge flank, allowing herself to shift slightly as its huge ribs moved in and out with breathing. In fact, the motion seemed to be slowly rocking her to sleep – she was yawning and had to keep changing position in order to stay awake. Both youkai were clearly more uncomfortable about Kagome's presence than Koryu's.  
  
Not that Kagome herself felt much better about it. The entire situation still didn't quite seem real... just five days ago, as far as she was concerned, these two had been very small children! She had no idea how to speak or respond to them. It was tempting to run and jump back down the well again, but that would clearly be a useless action; she could end up anywhere and anywhen. Better to just stay in the here and now, as close to her goal as she was apparently likely to get, and try to fix whatever had gone wrong.  
  
"Here," said Shippou, holding out a carved wooden bowl of broth and _udon_. "I won't vouch for the flavour. It tastes good to _me_, but maybe I've just been living on my own cooking for too long."  
  
"Thank you," Kagome inclined her head politely as she accepted the bowl, and sipped the contents cautiously. It wasn't exactly what she would have called delicious; the broth was rather weak, and the noodles had been cooking just a bit too long. But it was hardly inedible. "It's good," she said.  
  
"Thanks," Shippou smiled weakly.  
  
Kagome took another sip... there were so many questions she wanted to ask. Quite literally anything could have happened in the decade that had passed here, and before she could do anything she had to find out where everybody was and what they were doing. Yet now that she had the opportunity to ask, she found herself wanting to procrastinate. She had a feeling the answers would not be comforting.  
  
So instead of asking after Inuyasha and her friends, Kagome inquired, "who taught you to cook?"  
  
"Oh, I sort of taught myself," said Shippou, filling a second bowl. "There wasn't anybody else to do it. Souten can't cook worth a damn."  
  
"I heard that," the thunder yasha said sleepily.  
  
"Well, you can't," Shippou insisted. "She can't even boil rice," he told Kagome. "It just turns to mush on her." His smile softened his features a bit, and for a moment he looked more like the Shippou Kagome remembered... but then the expression vanished back into the thin face of a stranger. "Do you want some?" he added, speaking to Souten again as he offered her the second bowl.  
  
She yawned. "No, I think I'm fine."  
  
"All right. I'll save some for you if you change your mind," said Shippou, and took a drink from the bowl himself. A minute or so went by in which there were no sounds but the crackling of the fire and the small noises made by Kagome and Shippou as they ate, and it quickly became unbearable. The silence seemed to thicken the air until it became difficult to breathe, and Kagome felt that if she didn't say something, she'd explode.  
  
When she tried to think of more fodder for small talk, though, she drew a complete blank. Nothing for it, then... she would have to start asking the important questions.  
  
"Shippou-ch... san," she took a deep breath. "What happened in the village?"  
  
He glanced up at her with a slightly pained expression... clearly, he hadn't been looking any more forward to answering than she had to asking. Not a promising sign. "I don't know," he said.  
  
"You don't know?" Kagome echoed blankly. That was the last response she'd been expecting, and was somehow much worse than any bad news could have possibly been.  
  
"I wasn't there," he clarified awkwardly. "I was with the others. Miroku told me to come back here and get Kaede. He said that if anybody would know how to get you back, she would... but when I got here, this is what I found." He gestured towards the remains of the town, the action rendered somewhat meaningless by Koryu's being in the way.  
  
"Oh," said Kagome. That left the question open, and a dozen possible answers, all of them horrible, presented themselves. She shook her head, trying to clear them away. "When was that? Just after I left?"  
  
"I think so," he replied. "Maybe four, five months later. I don't remember exactly."  
  
She nodded. "So where are the others now? Miroku and Sango?"  
  
Shippou squirmed. "I don't know," he repeated. Several expressions, including embarrassment and dread, passed across his face, and then with obvious effort he made himself add, "I never saw them again."  
  
There was something about those five words that made Kagome feel like she was going to be sick. "Were they in trouble?" Stupid question. They _must_ have been, if Miroku was so desperate to find her... or maybe he'd just wanted Shippou away from whatever was going on. Neither possibility could mean anything good.  
  
Shippou nodded, but said nothing.  
  
"Well?" asked Kagome. "What happened?"  
  
"I don't _know_," he said for the third time. He hung his head and pushed his fingers through his hair. "Kagome, I was nine years old. I didn't understand _what_ the hell was going on half the time... if I had, I probably would have crawled under a rock and never come out again. It was something to do with Naraku, that's all I know... and that other girl was there, the holy woman who looks like you."  
  
"Kikyou," said Kagome.  
  
"Right. I knew it was a flower name," he added.  
  
Kagome sighed, disappointed... it wasn't Shippou's fault, but it looked like she was going to learn nothing, and she had no idea who else to go to in order to find out. "So what happened to _you_?" she wanted to know. "You must know that."  
  
He did, and it seemed to be a relief to him. "Of course. I found Kaede a few days after I got back here... I guess I stayed with her for a few years. Two or three, maybe. Yeah, it must've been three years. She'd escaped when the village was burned, but she didn't know who was behind the attack."  
  
"Naraku," said Kagome. She didn't even feel optimistic enough to make a question out of it.  
  
But Shippou seemed to interpret it as one anyway. "I don't know," he repeated miserably. "I haven't heard anything about him, either. Not for years."  
  
That was potentially good, but Kagome refused to get her hopes up. "Where is Kaede now, then?"  
  
"She's..." Shippou looked more uncomfortable than ever. "Uh... well, she was hurt when I found her. Something had fallen on her and she couldn't walk anymore, but she had a Shikon shard. She would never tell me where it came from. But she did say that I couldn't touch it, she was very specific about that, and she told me it had to be kept safe from other youkai. So... I made sure it was buried with her, and... well... Souten and I have been keeping it safe."  
  
It was a moment before Kagome realized what he meant. "So that's... that was _Kaede's_ grave I was standing on?"  
  
"Yeah," said Shippou.  
  
Kagome shut her eyes. This couldn't be happening. This had to be a nightmare, and in a moment she'd wake up from it. Sango and Miroku were missing, Kaede was dead and buried, and Inuyasha... he hadn't mentioned Inuyasha at all, had he? "What about Inuyasha?" she asked, loath to hear the answer. "Where is he? Do you know?"  
  
"He went looking for you." Shippou still wouldn't look at her. "On the day you were due back. He'd spent the whole morning and afternoon waiting by the well, and at sunset he said he was going to get you, and jumped in."  
  
"And he never came back," Kagome finished for him. Of course... that was exactly what she'd figured he'd done.  
  
"Kagome," said Shippou helplessly, "I am so sorry. I... shit, I wish I had something _good_ to tell you."  
  
"It's not your fault," she said.  
  
"We'll dig the shard up tomorrow," he offered. "I'm sure Kaede would have wanted you to take it."  
  
She nodded, but when she thought about it, she wasn't quite sure taking the shard would be a good idea. It belonged to a different time than the ones she'd already collected, even if only slightly; should she really mix them? What about the others? If Naraku had vanished...  
  
"Can I stay with you tonight?" she asked Shippou.  
  
"Of course," he replied, not even having to think about it. "Stay as long as you want."  
  
"I'll only be one night," she promised. "Tomorrow... tomorrow, I'm going looking for Shikon shards." Shippou hadn't been able to tell her what she needed to know, but she had a feeling that if she found the shards of Shikon no Tama, she would also find her answers. 


	9. Chapter Nine: Elsewhen

Inuyasha landed lightly on the bottom of the well, then immediately sprang back out again, making the twenty-five foot jump with no effort at all. He came down precisely on the lip of the well, as gracefully as a cat, and crouched there, looking around at the inside of the shed. "Kagome?" he asked. "Where are you?"  
  
Obviously, the answer was 'not here'... there was no sign of her, and her scent was not in the building. In fact, it didn't smell as if anybody, besides a lot of rats and two different cats, neither of which was Buyo, had been in this place for a week at least. Grumbling, Inuyasha hopped down onto the packed earth floor and climbed the wooden steps to the shed doors, taking them two at a time.  
  
Damned female – she'd said five days, promising to be back first thing in the morning. It was longer than Inuyasha had ever let her go before, but she'd seemed to think it would be the end of the world if she missed even _one_ of her stupid 'exams'. So he'd sucked it up and waited, but now it had been nearly _six_ days, and his patience had reached its absolute end. Kagome always said patience was a virtue... but _im_patience was what bloody well got things done!  
  
There was a strange, sharp scent in the air, like smoke and brimstone. He paused by the door and sniffed... gunpowder? It might have been. And it was mixed with the smell of many strange men and fires that had been allowed to burn low. That was odd... but then, he reminded himself, there was a shrine built around the well in Kagome's time. Perhaps there was some kind of festival going on. He shrugged and pushed the door open.  
  
Or _tried_ to push the door open; when he gave it a shove, he discovered to his surprise and annoyance that it wouldn't open. So she was expecting him, was she? It figured... she probably didn't want him busting in on the festivities. Well, he would damned well show _her_!  
  
Inuyasha raised one foot and gave the doors a good kick. The heavy bar that had been holding it from the outside broke in half and the pieces went tumbling noisily down the outside steps, while the doors themselves were all but torn off their hinges. Splinters of wood went flying, leaving a nice open space for the hanyou to step through.  
  
And looking through it, he realized that whatever was going on, here, it was definitely not a festival.  
  
The yard was full of men, all dressed in uncomfortable-looking close-fitted clothing and camped out around small fires. They looked as if they'd been asleep a moment ago, but Inuyasha's breaking the door had startled them awake, and now they were scrambling to their feet, shouting at one another and raising thin wood and metal objects that were too short to be spears and the wrong shape to be swords... but from the way their owners were holding them, must definitely be weapons nevertheless.  
  
"What the hell is that?" one of them demanded.  
  
"Hey, you!" said another. "Who are you and how did you get in there?"  
  
Inuyasha sprang onto the roof, and apparently not a moment too soon – there was the sound of an explosion, and one of the pieces of wood left behind from the doors jumped as if something had struck it.  
  
"Don't do that!" ordered the man who'd asked Inuyasha who he was.  
  
"Yes, do that!" a third insisted. "Youkai! Demon!"  
  
"Stop!" said the first. "_Don't_ shoot it!" He looked up at Inuyasha, perched on the roof. "I'm waiting for an answer," he said.  
  
"I'm looking for Kagome," Inuyasha told him. "Where is she?"  
  
"Kagome?" The man, who must've been the leader, looked around at his followers.  
  
"My sister's name is Kagome," one of them volunteered, "but if that thing so much as _looks_ at..."  
  
Inuyasha shook his head. "No!" he snapped. "Kagome! Higurashi Kagome! She lives here!"  
  
The leader looked confused. "No-one's lived here in a decade at least," he said. "The Oligarchs closed the shrines years ago."  
  
"Oh, screw this," Inuyasha decided. She had to be around here _somewhere_. He leapt off the roof and over the wall of the shrine compound.  
  
"It's getting away!" a voice shouted, and there was the sound of another small explosion. Halfway through his leap, Inuyasha felt a streak of red-hot pain slice through his back. A bitter, metallic taste – like blood – filled his throat, and he lost control of his jump, landing hard and hitting his head on a stone street beyond the wall. For a moment, all he could do was lie there, dazed and seeing stars.  
  
When his vision cleared, he tried to sit up and gasped in pain. His midsection wouldn't bend without hurting terribly. Looking down, he found that he had blood all over his shirt... and a hole right through it. What could have pierced his fire-rat tunic?  
  
A door opened in the wall and the men came pouring out, each of them carrying the same bizarre object. The leader put his foot on Inuyasha's chest and forced him back to the ground, pushing the blunt end of the weapon under the hanyou's chin.  
  
"All right, now, speak up," he said, his voice shaking with suppressed fear. "What the hell are you?"  
  
Inuyasha gritted his teeth against the pain and shoved the man off of him – he staggered backwards and fell against several of his fellows, his weapon going off accidentally with a sound that stung Inuyasha's sensitive ears. The hanyou crouched to make another jump, then heard the sound for a third time, and a second dagger of pain buried itself in his shoulder, followed by a third, slightly lower down.  
  
Kagome had once observed that Inuyasha had the most incredible constitution of anyone she'd ever met. He could be stabbed, thrown around, fall down mountains and do battle with things four times his size, get so bruised and bloody that he was barely recognizable, and still just get up and walk away when it was over. Swords, spears, arrows, monsters, youkai... he could handle any of them.  
  
But three bullets in the back was too much even for him. For half a second he remained upright, glaring hatefully at the men who were gathered around, staring at him with huge, frightened eyes. Then his knees buckled and, in slow motion it seemed, he fell on his face, his vision fading to black as he lost consciousness.

* * *

Ayumi, Eri, Yuka, and Houjou had left the hospital considering themselves to be on a holy quest to discover the truth of Kagome's whereabouts and reveal them to her family... but when the foursome actually arrived at the gate of the old Shinto shrine where the Higurashi home was, they found their resolve wavering. It had begun to dawn on them by now that wherever she was, Kagome might well be in terrible trouble. Or if she wasn't yet, she might be when her family found out.  
  
"So," said Eri. "Who wants to knock?"  
  
"It had better be Yuka," Ayumi decided. "She's the one who thought we'd better come here."  
  
"Me?" asked Yuka. "No, Ayumi's the one who thinks she knows where Kagome is."  
  
"When did I say that?" asked Ayumi.  
  
"Back at the hospital," Eri reminded her. "Remember? You said she must be with that boy. You can knock."  
  
Ayumi shook her head. "If it's so important to you who does it, maybe you'd better."  
  
"I'll do it," offered Houjou.  
  
He'd half-expected them to keep bickering, but instead, this met with instant approval from all quarters. "Oh, yes!" Eri nodded, pushing Houjou towards the doors. "You can do it!"  
  
"Yes, go ahead, Houjou-kun!" said Yuka.  
  
Houjou swallowed and reached up to knock on the gate. He still really had no idea what was going on around here... it was starting to sound as if Kagome had a whole other life he hadn't heard about. Of course, she was out of school so much that it probably shouldn't be surprising if she had other friends and other things to do. But the more he listened to her friends, the more it sounded as if she had another boyfriend... in which case, why hadn't she told him? He'd have understood! Houjou wasn't the jealous type. Kagome might've been the prettiest girl in his class, but if she was already seeing somebody, that was allowed.  
  
Why hadn't she _said_ something?  
  
The door creaked open, and Kagome's little brother, Souta, looked up at the four visitors. "Hi," he said. "Kagome's not here. She's back at the hospital. Sorry."  
  
Yuka, Ayumi, and Eri looked at Houjou. Apparently, _he_ was expected to handle this.  
  
"No, she's not," he said. "We were just there."  
  
"Oh." Souta didn't look entirely sure how to respond to that. "Well..."  
  
"Souta, sweetie," Ayumi interrupted. "Can we talk to your Mom?"  
  
"Sure!" he nodded. "Come on in."  
  
The four teenagers followed him across the temple compound and up to the front door of the Higurashi house. He opened it and looked inside. "Mom! Kagome's friends are here!"  
  
"Are they?" Mrs. Higurashi's smiling face appeared around the corner. "Hello, girls," she said brightly. "Hello, Houjou. You didn't manage to catch up with Kagome, I suppose... that's a shame. Would you like something to eat?"  
  
The girls waited. It looked like this was up to Houjou again.  
  
"Thank you, Mrs. Higurashi," he said, "but actually, we don't think Kagome went to the hospital. We were there waiting for her for hours, and we got to wondering..."  
  
"Mrs. Higurashi," Yuka stepped past him, "has Kagome ever said much to you about a boy?"


	10. Chapter Ten: Some Unpleasant Discoveries

It took forty-five minutes, a pot of tea, two helpings of _kasutera_ and one long conversation with Grandpa Higurashi to get everything sorted out, and even then, Kagome's friends weren't entirely sure they were satisfied. But evening was approaching and the shadows were getting long, so eventually the four of them bowed and thanked the Higurashi family for their hospitality, then left the shrine complex, shaking their heads.  
  
"Wow," said Yuka quietly. "Who'd have ever thought, huh?"  
  
"Yeah," Eri agreed quietly. "That's _scary_, isn't it? A disease only four other people on Earth _have_?"  
  
Yuka shrugged. "Well, at least it's been properly diagnosed now, right? Maybe now they can finally cure it."  
  
"Mmm. Still," said Eri, "don't you think it seems a little weird that she's got to go all the way to Honolulu for treatment?"  
  
"I guess if that's where the specialist is," said Yuka. "It's no wonder we've never met any of these other friends of hers, huh? If they live in Hawaii."  
  
"Yeah, and no wonder she's always got such a nice tan, besides." Eri sighed. "You'd think she would have mentioned it, though. I suppose she probably thought we'd be jealous. Her going to Hawaii while we're stuck in school and all." Judging by her tone of voice, if that had in fact been Kagome's reasoning, it would not have been far off the mark.  
  
"Look on the bright side," Houjou suggested. "I'll bet it's been a great opportunity for her to practice her English. She'll probably get the best mark in the class! And all the sunshine is probably very good for her, too."  
  
Eri made a face. "Mmm," she said, but did not look cheered.  
  
"Hey!" Yuka poked her. "I've got an idea! Kagome said she'd be back to get her exam marks, right? Well, we should throw her a welcome home party! We can get the whole class into it, and do a Hawaiian theme so that she knows we're on to her!"  
  
"Yeah!" Eri's face lit up. "That's a _great_ idea! Hey, my neighbour went to Hawaii for a weekend last year. If we ask, maybe he'll show us his photographs and we can get some ideas. We'll need to have leis and coconuts. And pineapples!"  
  
Yuka nodded. "My mom knows a great recipe for pork! They eat pork in Hawaii!"  
  
"Perfect!" said Eri. "Come on, I'll show you where this guy lives. Ayumi," she added, "do you want to come?"  
  
The third girl, who so far had said nothing, shook her head. "I'd better not. I told my father I'd be home by four."  
  
"Are you sure? You can call him from my place," Eri offered.  
  
Ayumi shook her head. "No, I'll be fine."  
  
"Then we'll phone you tonight," Yuka said, "and you can help us plan stuff. Come on, Eri."  
  
"Bye!" Ayumi waved as her friends ran off, chatting happily about party plans. But once they vanished around a corner, she hung her head.  
  
"Matsumoto?" asked Houjou. "Are you all right?"  
  
"I don't know," Ayumi sighed heavily. "I mean... Kagome always looks so healthy when we see her, and we always think she's getting better, but then the next day there's something else wrong with her and it just gets worse and worse! Whenever I see her I'm almost scared that she's going to drop dead at my feet!" She wiped her eyes, determined not to cry in front of Houjou... but it wasn't working. "So now she's halfway across the ocean with some terrible disease and I can't even _visit_ her. I hate knowing she's so sick."  
  
"Don't cry." Houjou offered her a handkerchief. "Kagome's going to be fine. If they're sending her all the way to Hawaii to see this special doctor, then he must be very good at what he does. And her grandfather said he specialized in this condition. She'll be feeling better in no time, you'll see." He patted Ayumi on the back as she blew her nose. "Here, there's an ice cream shop just around the corner. Would you feel better if you had some ice cream?"  
  
Ayumi turned pink. "You don't have to," she said quickly.  
  
"You look like you need it," replied Houjou. "I'll buy you a cone, and then I'll walk you back to your place. Everything will be fine, you'll see. It's this way – follow me."

* * *

A lot of people would have awakened from a night spent on the cold earth within Koryu's coils too stiff and sore to even sit up, but months of assorted adventure in this medieval era had left Kagome able to sleep just about anywhere. She yawned and stretched, shivering in the chilly morning air, then got up and looked around... the scaly red sides of the dragon formed a wall all around her. How was she going to get out?  
  
Before she could think of anything, the coils themselves began to shift, and Koryu's big, whiskered head – itself the size of a small car – rose to look down at her. "Good morning," he said. "Sleep well?"  
  
"Yes, thank you," Kagome replied. She looked around; there was no one else in the little enclosure with her, and the fire had gone out during the night. "Where are..." she paused... it still didn't feel right to think of those two strangers are Shippou and Souten.  
  
"Oh, they went to dig up that shard," Koryu replied. His coils unwound like a sweater unraveling, and in moments there was a space for Kagome to walk through. "They thought they ought to let you sleep."  
  
"Thanks," said Kagome. "I'll just go see how they're doing." She started down the hill towards the graveyard.  
  
"Call me if you need me!" Koryu told her, curling up again.  
  
The two Youkai had been busy. The unmarked grave she'd been standing on last night was now a hole several feet deep, and when she came closer she saw that Shippou was in the bottom of it, digging with both hands and both feet while Souten stood watch.  
  
"Morning!" Kagome called to them.  
  
"Good morning!" Souten replied, waving.  
  
Down in the grave, Shippou straightened up and wiped his forehead on his sleeve. It didn't do any good at all... he was absolutely filthy, the white and green of his eyes standing out sharply against his muddy face. "Good timing!" he said. "I'm almost done."  
  
And he was – the top of the coffin was exposed, and Shippou was busy digging dirt out from around the sides of it so that the lid could be lifted without anything spilling in. Kagome sat down on the grass to watch.  
  
"I was actually just about to come and wake you up," said Souten. "You'll have to get the shard out."  
  
"Hmm?" Kagome looked at her. "Me?"  
  
"That's right," Shippou said. "Kaede always told me I couldn't touch it... she seemed to think something awful would happen if I did. Here we go." He wiped his hands on his shirt, leaving long, muddy streaks, then lifted the lid of the coffin. Kagome's eyes widened in horror when she saw what was in it.  
  
"Oh!" she exclaimed, turning away. "Oh, my _god_!"  
  
"Kagome?" asked Shippou.  
  
She kept her head down and put her hands over her face. "You take the shard."  
  
"But Kagome..."  
  
"_Take it_!" she shrieked, then rose and ran up the hill without looking back. She made it to the edge of the village, then leaned against the nearest half-standing wall and stood there, hugging her own shoulders and shuddering. Kagome had seen plenty of dead bodies on her various trips to the past, and as incredible as it seemed, had almost gotten used to them – she certainly did not _like_ the sight of fresh corpses, or of old skeletons, but she was quite able to handle either.  
  
Never, though, had she seen a body that was only halfway through decomposing. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes and she shook her head hard, as if doing so might be able to physically dislodge what she had just seen. And that was _Kaede_! The last time Kagome had seen her, the holy woman had been in her fifties and plump, with steel-gray hair and unattractive but kindly features... and now that memory was going to be forever marred by the image, burned into her brain, of the corpse's worm-eaten face!  
  
Whatever had happened here, she had to fix it. She could not bear knowing that her friend and mentor had become _that_.  
  
"Kagome?" asked Souten, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder.  
  
"You could have _warned_ me!" Kagome wailed. "You could have told me it was going to look like that!"  
  
Souten withdrew her hand. "Shippou?" she asked. "Have you got it?"  
  
"Just a minute," he replied. "Here!" A few seconds passed, and then Kagome looked up to see him sheepishly holding out a pink fragment of Shikon no Tama, wrapped up in a scrap of cloth so that it wouldn't make contact with his skin. "I'm sorry," he said, placing the crystal in her hand... and Kagome thought she heard just a slight note of condescension in his voice as he asked, "what were you expecting?"  
  
"I don't know," she said. "A skeleton."  
  
"Oh." Shippou nodded. "You know, it takes ten or twelve years for a human body to rot away right to the bones if it's buried."  
  
"No, I didn't know that," said Kagome. For a moment, she wondered where Shippou had learned it, then decided she'd rather not find out. "Just... please... I have to..." she shut her eyes. Souten rubbed her back reassuringly.  
  
"Right," said Shippou, though she hadn't said anything that needed agreeing with. "I guess I'll go close that up... you girls better get ready to leave."


	11. Chapter Eleven: Things Remembered

Kagome knew that youkai were not habitually acquisitive creatures – nobody she'd met in Sengoku Jidai was, really. It was best not to get too attached to your possessions in an era when they could all be taken or destroyed at any moment. But given how much young Shippou had loved the toys and candy she'd given him, she was surprised to see how little he and Souten now owned. Besides her spear and his sword, and the clothes on their backs, all they seemed to have were a couple of cooking pots, their tatami mats, and a few other strictly practical items.  
  
Of these, the weapons were by far the most interesting. The sword Shippou had threatened Kagome with last night turned out to be one of a set of three in different sizes, and now that she saw them in daylight she realized that they must have been made with him in mind. All had yellow leather braided around the hilts with a little tassel of fox fur hanging from the cords, and a design obviously meant to represent foxfire was worked on the sheaths in gold and blue enamel.  
  
"Where did you get those?" she wanted to know, watching him tie the mid-length one to his belt.  
  
He smiled at her as he replied. "They belonged to my father."  
  
"Really?" Kagome asked. "I don't remember seeing them at all."  
  
"You wouldn't have," he told her. "After he died, these were stolen by a raven youkai. I found out about it from a swordsmith who'd been robbed by the thing. It collected weapons, all kinds of them."  
  
"It had taken the Raigekijin, too," Souten added, referring to her spear, which had once been owned by her brother Hiten. "That's how the two of us met up again. We were both looking for its lair."  
  
"It lived way up on top of a mountain," said Shippou. "We kept running into each other on the way up, and after a while we figured we'd better quit fighting with each _other_ and save our energy for the thief instead."  
  
Despite the distress the morning had already caused her, Kagome couldn't help but giggle. She could just picture the two little youkai arguing all the way up, until terror forced them to cooperate. "That's so cute!"  
  
Shippou grimaced. "Not the word I would have chosen. But anyway, this raven," he went on. "I think it must have been following you – you and Inuyasha and everybody – around for ages and picking up after you every time you killed a youkai. There were all sorts of things in its collection. I wish I could have saved some, but we couldn't nearly carry it all. It was a mean one, too. Look at this."  
  
"Look at... oh," she said, as he opened his shirt to show her three long scars across his abdomen. However he'd gotten the wounds, they hadn't healed neatly at all – the scars were shiny pinkish-white with puckered edges, and although they were clearly years old, they looked as if the might still be painful. Nothing should have been able to disgust Kagome after having looked at that corpse earlier, but she still found that after a few seconds, she had to look away.  
  
"There's another one on my back," Shippou added, apparently oblivious to her distress. "The raven tried to pick me up in one claw... if Souten hadn't been there, it would have torn me to bits."  
  
"Several times over," Souten agreed tartly.  
  
Kagome was half-horrified, half-fascinated. "How old were you?" she asked.  
  
"Thirteen," Shippou replied casually, as if a young teenager getting in the way of something so dangerous was an everyday occurrence. He re-tied his belt and tucked his vest back into it.  
  
Souten handed him a bundle of something. "I have to go talk to Koryu and change my clothes," she said, slinging her pack over her shoulder. "I'll meet you at the top of the hill."  
  
"All right," Shippou agreed, and knelt down to roll up his tatami as she walked away.  
  
"How did you escape?" Kagome asked.  
  
"Escape?" He looked up with a puzzled expression on his face, as if he wasn't quite sure what she was talking about.  
  
"Yes," Kagome nodded. "From the raven youkai."  
  
"We didn't." Now he looked a bit offended. "We killed it."  
  
"And you were thirteen?" Kagome could barely believe what she was hearing. Shippou - _her_ Shippou, cute, cowardly little Shippou - had killed something capable of giving him those scars... when he was _thirteen_?  
  
"Yeah. It isn't like I'd never seen a youkai killed before," said Shippou, sounding, as he had at the grave, a bit disgusted with her.  
  
"Sorry," she replied. "Can I help you pack?"  
  
"No." He shook his head. "I'm fine."  
  
There was very little conversation as he finished up and swung his load onto his shoulders... although the package he'd put together didn't really deserve to be called a 'load' at all. Kagome's overstuffed backpack, full of spare clothes, schoolbooks, and other miscellaneous items, seemed terribly unwieldy by comparison.  
  
"Is that really all you have?" she asked.  
  
"It's all we need," Shippou replied, tying a cord to keep the pack in place. "Souten!" he called, "are you ready?"  
  
"Yes!" her voice floated back from over the hill.  
  
Shippou nodded and stood up. "So where are we going to be heading first?" he asked Kagome.  
  
She shrugged. "Where are we likely to find shards?" she asked, looking around as if half-expecting one to suddenly appear. "Or do you have any idea?"  
  
The question appeared to startle him; he frowned as he looked down at her. "You don't know? I thought you could sort of sense them."  
  
"I can," she nodded, "but only when we're up close. Within a hundred yards or so I think is about the furthest I can do it from, and that's only if I'm really looking hard for one."  
  
"Oh." Shippou's forehead furrowed as he thought. "So how did you _used_ to decide which direction we were going in?" He paused. "Are you telling me that we would just wander around randomly until you sensed something?"  
  
"Pretty much." Kagome suddenly felt foolish – when he put it that way, it did seem like a bit of a silly way to go about searching, but it had worked. "Or until we heard rumors of especially vicious youkai."  
  
"Really?" He made a face as if something didn't taste quite right. "That seems... awfully inefficient, if you ask me." He started up the hill.  
  
Kagome trotted after him, a little annoyed both by his attitude and by the fact that she had to move quickly to keep up with his long stride. "Do you have any better ideas?" she wanted to know.  
  
"No," he admitted. "I just always thought there was something more to it than just _that_."  
  
"Well, I'm very sorry if I'm destroying your precious childhood illusions!" snapped Kagome, "but that's how it was!"  
  
It wasn't until the sentence had already popped out that Kagome realized just how bitter it had sounded. Her insides twisted in remorse, and she took a deep breath, trying for force herself to calm down. "I'm sorry, Shippou," she said. "I'm just stressed." And no wonder; the image of that decomposing body still flashed in front of her eyes every time she shut them, and it was making her want to take a bath. As soon as they passed a river, she'd have to stop and wash up.  
  
"It's okay," he replied, and finally seemed to realize she was having to hurry; he slowed down a bit to allow her to keep pace. "I guess I can't blame you. It's half my fault, anyway. When I..." he said, then seemed to abruptly change his mind about whatever he'd been about to say.  
  
"Yes?" asked Kagome.  
  
He shook his head. "It's silly."  
  
"No, tell me," she insisted.  
  
Shippou grimaced. "When I was little... I sort of thought of you as some kind of goddess, actually." His cheeks flushed a bit. "I guess I always thought... well... I always thought if you ever came back you'd... you'd just pull out your magic arrows and everything would be fine again." He grinned awkwardly. "Like I said – pretty silly, huh?"  
  
"Mmm." Kagome looked at her feet. Shippou had always seemed to be the easiest of the group to please. It was strange to think he had expectations she couldn't live up to.  
  
Souten was at the top of the hill waiting for them, Koryu having either flown away or transformed into something Kagome was unable to identify. The yasha had mentioned she intended to change her clothes for the trip, but Kagome was surprised to see what she was now wearing. Her armor was rolled up inside a blanket in the pack on her back, and she'd dressed instead in a rather grubby turquoise kimono and a pair of sandals. Her hair had been rearranged to cover the tips of her pointed ears so that except for her red eyes, it was almost possible to mistake her for human.  
  
Kagome had rarely seen youkai use any sort of disguise that didn't involve outright shape shifting and wondered what the purpose of it was, but she found herself unwilling to ask. It would probably turn out to be something she should have figured out on her own, and she didn't want to hear Shippou talk down to her again. She was already beginning to hate the contemptuous tone he used when she said or did something he thought was dumb.  
  
"All ready?" Souten asked. "Where are we heading?"  
  
The wording made Kagome wince. "That way," she said, choosing a direction at random.  
  
"Looks as good as any other way," Shippou agreed. His voice imbued the statement with some extra significance that was _probably_ meant as a joke, but it made Kagome feel even stupider. "The sooner we start, the sooner we'll find something."  
  
Souten blinked. "Did I miss something?" she asked.  
  
"Nothing important," Kagome told her. "Let's go." 


	12. Chapter Twelve: Forebodings

It was a nice day for walking. The autumn air was a bit on the chilly side, but there wasn't any wind, and the fallen leaves smelled nice after the previous day's rain. Birds passed overhead on their way to their wintering grounds in the Philippines, but besides their calls and the crunching of leaves underfoot, there was very little sound. It wasn't long before the uncomfortable quiet began to wear on Kagome's already frayed nerves.  
  
Traveling with her friends before had always been _fun_. Everybody would talk and joke as they went, Inuyasha would grumble about everything, Miroku and Sango would tease one another, and little Shippou would always be running back and forth to show off a smooth stone or interesting insect he'd found. Now, the near-silence didn't seem to be bothering Shippou and Souten at all, but Kagome quickly began to find it all but unbearable.  
  
Even so, she couldn't bring herself to break it. Several times, she thought of a question she could ask, or something she could say that might start a conversation, but always changed her mind before the words could actually come out. She didn't want to be made to feel like a fool again... any more than she wanted to hear anything else about corpses, or stories about small children barely escaping with their lives.  
  
To distract herself, she tried to take an interest in the landscape they were passing through. People – and youkai – might change in ten years, but scenery doesn't, and the mountains and woods they were passing through looked exactly the way she remembered them. That was a comforting thought... but the reassurance it offered was at least partially cancelled out by the realization that they were heading towards the area where Kouga's pack lived.  
  
Did the wolf youkai still make their home in these mountains? It was possible, Kagome thought... but it was equally possible that they'd moved, that they'd all been killed, or that any of a dozen other things had happened. The only way to find out would be to go and look, and Kagome wasn't sure she even wanted to know.  
  
All things considered, she was very glad of the distraction when, towards the middle of the afternoon, the road took them over a rise and then down into a valley, where a small village was built on the edge of a lake. Without really thinking about it, Kagome lengthened her stride to get there faster, noting that it would almost be nice not to have to sit there embarrassed while Miroku tried to convince the town's wealthiest inhabitants that their home was infested by evil spirits. She didn't get more than two or three steps, though, before she had to stop or else run right into Shippou and Souten.  
  
The two youkai didn't look at all eager to reach the town. They were standing in the middle of the road, frowning as they looked down at it.  
  
"Still inhabited?" asked Souten. "It's been over a year."  
  
Shippou sniffed the air. "Definitely. I'd say go around, but..." he paused and looked back at Kagome. "Anything we need? Through or around?"  
  
"Through," said Kagome. "I need a new quiver and arrows."  
  
"Through," Souten agreed. "If we're going to be around humans, she'll need something else to wear."  
  
"I will?" Kagome looked down at her uniform and loafers, puzzled... she'd occasionally had people comment that her anachronistic clothing was 'unladylike', but it had never seemed to be an actual _problem_. "Why's that?"  
  
"Because if you go around dressed like _that_, you might be mistaken for a youkai," said Shippou, "and if you are, you might be killed or hounded out of town before you can explain that you aren't." He turned to Souten, "do you want me to come along?"  
  
She shook her head. "I'm pretty sure Kagome and I can take care of ourselves. Right?" she added, looking at the miko."  
  
"We'll be fine," Kagome agreed, relieved by the prospect of getting away from Shippou a while. "We'll try to be fast, I promise."  
  
"All right," Shippou sounded as if this arrangement would be a relief to him, too. "I'll meet you around the other side." And without another word, he turned and bounded off into the woods.  
  
Souten put a hand on Kagome's shoulder. "It's not just you," she said.  
  
"Huh?" asked Kagome.  
  
"He's always like that." The yasha clarified with a smile, and turned to start heading downhill. "He never really thinks about what other people are going to feel until after he's already said something he shouldn't have. And he's a little too fond of showing off those scars." She rolled her eyes. "I think he's just trying to make up for all the whining he did while they were healing."  
  
Kagome giggled – that sounded a bit more like the Shippou she remembered. "Souten," she added, feeling much more comfortable asking questions now that Shippou wasn't around, "why are you wearing a disguise? I went through villages plenty of times with Inuyasha and Shippou and Kirala right there, and even the people who could tell they were youkai didn't seem to have much of a problem with it."  
  
"Things have changed a bit," said Souten. "These aren't good times to be a youkai. I wouldn't say humans _trust_ us any less than before, because I don't think they ever did in the first place. They've just become... less tolerant. I think they realized at some point that not all youkai are as powerful as they believed. There was a lot of infighting after Naraku vanished, so maybe it was just that they got to see so many youkai destroying each _other_." She shrugged. "Unless you're strong enough to take on a whole village, it's a good idea to pretend to be human if you can."  
  
"I see," said Kagome. Suddenly she felt rather chilly in her uniform.  
  
"Don't worry," Souten said kindly. "You should be all right if you're with me."  
  
Kagome was grateful for the reassurance, which made her feel rather childish – she had never needed to hear things like that when she was traveling with Inuyasha and the others. But that had been in a world she was thoroughly familiar with, while this was like wandering around an alien planet with only two near-strangers for company. She supposed she probably just needed to give herself time to get used to it... after all, this was a pretty bizarre situation to be in, even by Kagome's rather high standards of weird. Having arrows, and thus a means of defending herself, would probably help, too.  
  
Somewhat surprisingly, Souten seemed to know her way around the village pretty well. Without hesitating or stopping to speak to anybody – even the people who stopped to stare at Kagome's clothing – she went straight to one house in particular and knocked on the door.  
  
It opened almost immediately, revealing a short, stout little woman in her forties. She squinted myopically at her visitors as she asked, "can I help you?"  
  
"Yes, thank you." Souten nodded towards Kagome. "My friend here... well, it's a long story, but she needs a new kimono, quite badly. Since we were passing through, I of course thought of you."  
  
The woman frowned, then brightened. "Ah, yes, I remember you! I made the one you're wearing, didn't I? Come in, come in... good heavens," she added, upon seeing Kagome's outfit. "Where did you find _that_ ridiculous getup?"  
  
"Oh... it's just something I had lying around," said Kagome.  
  
The woman shook her head and clucked her tongue. "Well come in and I'll see how tall you are... you, too, Souten. Come and have some tea, and we can catch up. How's that crazy young husband of yours?"  
  
But Souten didn't come in. "I'm so sorry, Saihoushi-san," she said, "but I'm afraid I have errands to run while I'm here, and then I have to meet Shippou. Maybe next time. Kagome, come and meet us at the far end of town when you're ready."  
  
"I will," Kagome promised.  
  
Saihoushi waddled around the room, muttering to herself as she gathered up things to sew with. "Stand up straight, dear," she said, unrolling a length of string with which to measure Kagome's height. "You're a friend of Souten's then?"  
  
"Of Shippou's, actually," replied Kagome. "And I don't really know either of them very well. We're just traveling together."  
  
"Mm." The seamstress measured from Kagome's neck to her ankles, then tied a knot in the string to mark the place. "Where are you headed?"  
  
"Into the mountains."  
  
This produced an unexpected response – Saihoushi looked up sharply, her unfocussed eyes wide with surprise. "Up there? Whatever for?"  
  
"It's on our way," seemed like the best answer. "I know there're wolves," she added.  
  
"Wolves?" Saihoushi echoed. "Lord! There are much worse things than wolves in those mountains! Not even youkai will live there anymore."  
  
Kagome's heart sank. "No youkai?"  
  
"Not since the mononoke moved in." The seamstress rummaged around in a chest until she found a bolt of rather plain green fabric, and began measuring it out with her arms. "The youkai... we used to find them dead sometimes, but we haven't seen any in a long time now. They're either all dead or driven off. There's nothing up there now but mad wolves and evil spirits... it's certainly no place for children!"  
  
Her urgent tone, coupled with the word 'children', made Kagome wonder just how much or how little this woman knew about Shippou and Souten. "What kind of mononoke is it?" she wanted to know.  
  
"I couldn't tell you." Saihoushi shook her head. "Nobody who's seen the thing has ever made it back to tell what it looks like. But if you must go through the mountains, for heaven's sake, stay the night here and wait for tomorrow morning. If you go now, it'll be evening by the time you're through. Make the trip by daylight, or it's as good a bet as any that you won't be coming out!"  
  
Kagome shivered, then her eyes widened as she recalled Kouga and his pack. If there was some kind of monster in the mountains capable of murdering youkai... then what might have become of her friends? 


	13. Chapter Thirteen: The Lost Miko

Saihoushi continued chatting aimlessly while she worked on the kimono. Kagome tried to tune her out at first, but eventually gave in and let herself listen to the old woman's gossip about who was well, who was ill, and who was seeing which younger woman behind his wife's back. The names were meaningless to Kagome, but the talk did distract her from thinking about Kouga's pack being slaughtered by some horrible monster.

This was absurd, she thought, staring absently into the cup of tea the little seamstress had given her. Since she'd gotten here, she'd found nothing but death and uncertainty. Surely, something _good_ must have happened to _somebody_ while she was gone.

"Here we go," said Saihoushi, around a mouthful of pins. "Try this on, dear, and I'll adjust the hem for you."  
  
"All right." Kagome drained her teacup and took the unfinished robe, then looked around the tiny house in search of someplace to change. Saihoushi's home was only one room, and there were no items of furniture big enough to step behind. "Um..." said Kagome. "If it's not too much trouble... I'm sorry, but would you mind stepping outside for a moment?"  
  
The little seamstress blinked like an owl, then grinned. "I was your age once, dear," she cackled. "I know what it looks like, and I'm rather fond of remembering it."  
  
Kagome felt hot blood rush to her face, and she quickly turned around and swung the kimono around her shoulders. She hunched over to keep it in place while she removed her uniform – her modesty seemed to amuse Saihoushi to no end. There was a constant stream of hoarse, muffled giggles from the seamstress as Kagome tied the narrow sash around her waist.  
  
"There," she said, turning around again. "How do I look?"  
  
"Hmm." Saihoushi appraised her, then nodded. "The green suits you," she said. "That's one thing that funny little costume did have going for it. Stand still, and I'll do the hem. Arms out to the sides, please."  
  
Kagome obliged, and tried to stand as still as possible while Saihoushi stitched the hem in place. "How much will I owe you for this?" she asked.  
  
"Don't worry about it," said Saihoushi. "It's free to a friend of Souten-san and Shippou-san."  
  
"It is?" Kagome was startled.  
  
The seamstress nodded. "We all do them favours where we can." She sewed a few more stitches, then glanced up and saw Kagome's puzzled expression. "They've saved all our lives more than once. Late last year we were having some trouble with a frog youkai, and they drove it right off using fire! They know quite a bit about youkai, those two," she added significantly. "Shippou-san tells us that when he was a child, he traveled with the Lost Miko for a while!"  
  
"The..." Kagome frowned. No, that was silly. It _couldn't_ be. "Who's that?"  
  
"The Lost Miko. Never heard of her?" Saihoushi looked surprised. "I've only heard the tales myself, and I don't know how much is true and how much is legend. Supposedly she came from the sky, but I doubt that myself. She and her warriors traveled from place to place, casting out youkai. I don't suppose there's a village in a hundred miles that doesn't have it's own story about her."  
  
Kagome tried to come up with a coherent response to that, but all she managed was, "I see."  
  
"In the end," the seamstress continued, "she was summoned back to her own land and left us. There are stories, of course, that someday she'll return and finish her work, but anybody who's ever tried to guess _when_ has been wrong." She pulled a thread tight and cut it with her teeth. "There you go!" she said, obviously proud of her handiwork.  
  
There was no mirror in Saihoushi's house, so Kagome had to take the seamstress' word that the kimono suited her. It was a similar shade of green to the skirt on her school uniform, with no decoration at all, and she suspected it looked as hastily made as it was. But most people in this era didn't have anything nicer, so she supposed that if this were meant to help her blend in, it would do that job nicely.  
  
"Thank you very much," said Kagome, bowing to Saihoushi. "I really don't feel right leaving without paying... are you sure there's nothing I can do for you?"  
  
"You can tell your friends not to go into the mountains today," Saihoushi replied immediately. "I worry for those two. They're too sure of themselves... one of these days, they're going to meet something they can't handle."  
  
"Oh... I think they'll be fine," said Kagome. "I'll tell them, though."  
  
"Please do," Saihoushi said.

* * *

Souten was waiting for Kagome at the edge of town, leaning against a tree and idly watching a group of women working in a rice paddy. She looked up and smiled as Kagome came closer.  
  
"Much better," she said. "Now we won't have to stick to back roads all the time."  
  
"Where's Shippou?" Kagome wanted to know.  
  
"Around," Souten replied with a shrug. "He doesn't like coming into towns. He can look human when he has to, but his tail pops out the moment he stops paying attention to it, so he's always on edge. Don't tell him I told you that, though," she added. "He gets really quite embarrassed about it."  
  
Kagome smiled. That sounded like Shippou. "My lips are sealed," she promised.  
  
Souten gave her a conspiratorial wink. "I went to the fletcher's and got you these," she said, holding out a quiver of arrows. It was bigger than the one Kagome was used to, and made to be carried at a person's waist rather than across their back... but she was probably not in a position to complain.  
  
"Thank you," she said, tying the quiver to her _obi_. Doing so made her feel better immediately; now she had a weapon, she would be able to handle herself if they were attacked. "Did you have to pay for them?" she asked.  
  
Souten laughed. "Saihoushi-san wouldn't let you pay, would she? We killed off a couple of youkai that came through here, and the villagers don't seem to think they can ever thank us enough."  
  
"She told me," said Kagome. She wondered if she ought to ask about the Lost Miko story, and decided against it. It wasn't hard to guess why Shippou and Souten hadn't told her themselves.  
  
"Shippou should be just up ahead," said Souten.  
  
He was indeed, sitting up in the branches of a tree, very much like Inuyasha used to. The sight of him made a lump form in Kagome's throat. Inuyasha was a pain at the best of times, but she would have felt so much more at ease with him here, even a version of him aged nine years as Shippou and Souten had. She couldn't imagine that he would have changed as much as them... in fact, it was difficult to think that Inuyasha could change at all, no matter how many years went by and how many hardships he endured.  
  
"We're back!" Souten called as they approached.  
  
Shippou dropped lightly onto the road. "Finished your shopping?"  
  
"Yes," said Kagome.  
  
He nodded. "Let's go on, then. I know a good place to spend the night, but we'll have to get there before sunset. There's some kind of monster lives up in the pass and I'd rather not run into it in the dark."  
  
Kagome followed the road with her eyes... it went on straight for a ways, then started winding so as not to be too steep as it climbed the mountainsides towards the gap between peaks. It looked much more foreboding than it had from the other side of town. "The mononoke?" she asked.  
  
"That's what the villagers call it," he agreed. The three travelers set off up the road.  
  
"Don't worry," Souten said. "There's a little hidden cave just over the crest of the pass. We'll be safe in there. Shippou will smell it if there's anything coming."  
  
That should have been reassuring... but it wasn't, and after a moment's thought, Kagome figured out why. "What about the wolf youkai?" she asked. "Saihoushi-san said the mononoke killed them all or drove them off." Could a cave really protect them against something an entire pack of warriors had been unable to deal with?  
  
"No, they're still around," said Shippou. "I've seen them a couple of times."  
  
Kagome's heart leapt. "So why don't we stay with them, then?" she wanted to know. "Won't we be safer there?" Kouga would remember her, and perhaps some of the others would, also. The thought of being able to talk to a real friend made her want to shout for joy.  
  
But Shippou shook his head. "They aren't very nice to strangers these days."  
  
"We're not strangers, though," Kagome pointed out. "You just said you'd seen them."  
  
"Yeah, but I didn't say we were best friends," he replied sourly. He paused a moment, then sighed. "I know what you're going to say. Kouga won't help us."  
  
"Why not?" asked Kagome.  
  
"Because he died years ago," Shippou said, without looking at her.  
  
"Oh," said Kagome. She lowered her head. "What happened to him?"  
  
"That thing in the mountains killed him," Shippou replied. "It moved in about a year after you left, and he and some others went to fight it. None of them ever came back."  
  
Kagome nodded. They walked in silence for a while, until something occurred to her. "Shippou?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Did Kouga still have his shikon shards?"  
  
"I don't remember," he said. "Why?" But then his eyes widened as he figured it out. "Because if he had them, and the mononoke killed him, it would have taken them," he answered himself.  
  
"Exactly," Kagome agreed. "If we're looking for shikon shards, we have to find this mononoke." 


	14. Chapter Fourteen: A Storm Gathers

Shippou's camping place turned out to be well hidden indeed. He and Souten led Kagome up and over the pass, then off the road and towards a steep rise that wasn't quite vertical enough to be properly called a cliff, but was nevertheless very difficult to climb. The cave was twelve feet up the slope, sheltered from prying eyes by a scrawny pine tree that was somehow managing to eke out a living in the sandy soil.  
  
Inside, the little cavern was narrow and damp, and not nearly big enough for three adults, but Kagome couldn't argue with the fact that it was probably the safest spot in the mountains. On top of being almost impossible to see, the opening was so narrow that it was difficult to squeeze through. Shippou and Souten were both tall but lightly built – anyone much heftier than they would not be able to fit inside.  
  
"What do you think?" asked Shippou.  
  
"Cozy," Kagome replied. And she honestly couldn't have said whether she was being sarcastic or not.  
  
A cooking fire would have attracted unwanted attention, so supper for the three travelers was cold, sticky riceballs that Souten had been carrying wrapped up in a cloth. Kagome didn't dare ask how old they were, but the seaweed wrappings were decidedly limp, and the rice tasted strongly of vinegar.  
  
While the girls sat and ate, Shippou announced that he was going to take a look around and then vanished into the shrubbery. It might have been just the general oppressive atmosphere, as dark clouds closed in around the setting sun, but Kagome thought he seemed to be gone an awfully long time. She didn't want to say anything about it when Souten looked completely unconcerned, but it was a great relief when he finally reappeared and bounded up to the ledge where they were sitting.  
  
"Find anything?" Souten asked, as he sat down and helped himself to a riceball.  
  
"Not a god-damn thing," Shippou replied. "A group of humans on horseback went through the pass yesterday – maybe two dozen of them, soldiers I'd guess. There's a wolf youkai wandering around somewhere who could really use a bath, ordinary wolves, shike deer and all kinds of other things, but nothing out of the ordinary." He shook his head. "Of course, it could be a ghost or an evil spirit, in which case it might not even _have_ a scent."  
  
"Well, if it has the shards, I'll still see them," Kagome offered.  
  
Shippou chewed and swallowed a mouthful of riceball, nodding. "So you haven't sensed anything yet?"  
  
"Not yet," she replied. "It's probably just too far away."  
  
He nodded, mouth full.  
  
"Who wants to take the first watch?" asked Souten.  
  
"I will," Kagome said immediately. It wasn't something she would normally have been so quick to volunteer for, but she felt as if it were her responsibility. Perhaps taking the first watch wasn't the type of heroism one would expect of a Lost Miko, but it was _something_.  
  
"I can do it," said Shippou, as if he were doing her a favour.  
  
"No, I'll be fine," Kagome told him. She hesitated a moment, then said, "I have an idea. Let's do rock-paper-scissors for it."  
  
Souten and Shippou both looked puzzled by the statement. "What's that?" the thunder yasha wanted to know.  
  
"It's sort of a game." Kagome demonstrated the hand motions involved. "This is rock, this is paper, and this is scissors. Paper covers rock, rock breaks scissors, scissors cut paper."  
  
"Hey, I remember that!" said Shippou. "You guys used to do that when you were splitting up and trying to decide who would take which road. We all make fists," he explained to Souten, "and pick one on the count of three. We'll show you."  
  
Kagome balled up her hand. "Ready?" she said. Shippou nodded. "One... two... three!"  
  
She had paper. Shippou had chosen rock. He glanced at her with an uncertain expression on his face.  
  
"I'll be fine by myself," she promised. "Really."  
  
"If you're sure..." said Shippou.  
  
"I'm sure," Kagome nodded.

* * *

Later, she found herself wondering since when she had to reassure _Shippou_ that she was going to be all right. Before, she'd always had to keep telling him that _he_ was going to be okay, that she and the others were here and they would look after him... and he'd believed it, too.  
  
Of course, that had been when he wasn't taller than her.  
  
She sighed as she looked out across the darkening mountains. The sky was completely overcast by now, but there was a glow behind the clouds that kept everything from being totally dark. A chilly breeze was picking up, and the air smelled like rain. There was probably going to be a storm; Kagome hoped it wouldn't start raining until her watch was over.  
  
The wind was blowing down the slope towards her, bringing with it the faraway sound of voices; up in the cave, Shippou and Souten were having some kind of conversation, but she couldn't quite make out what they were saying. It was probably just as well... more likely than not, they were talking about her, and she didn't want to know what it was they were saying.  
  
Had it only been yesterday that she'd slept in and rushed into the well without stopping for breakfast? It felt as if it had been years ago.  
  
Depending on how she looked at it, perhaps it had.  
  
Lightning flickered in the clouds, and Kagome counted to six before she heard the faint, far-off sound of thunder. The ominous night sky was making the mountains look steeper and sharper than they had by daylight, and they were starting to resemble a row of predatory teeth. The woods looked completely black in the diffuse semi-darkness; absolutely anything could have been hiding in there. The entire scene could have been lifted right out of a horror movie.  
  
But in spite of the atmosphere, Kagome found her head starting to droop... and no wonder; she'd had a thoroughly exhausting couple of days. Yesterday had been spent jumping in and out of the well in a panic and then fighting for her life. Today, she'd walked for miles and miles in the company of two people she really wasn't certain she liked. But now was not a good time to be napping. She forced herself to raise her head again and open her eyes – had to stay awake and keep watch.  
  
It didn't work very well. Kagome's brain knew that she couldn't fall asleep yet, but her body had other ideas, and she nearly nodded off two or three more times before she had to get up and start pacing back and forth in order to keep herself from doing it again. She wondered how long she'd been here, and had a nasty suspicion that it wasn't half as long as it felt like. If she went and woke Shippou before her watch was actually over, she'd only be confirming that she was useless.  
  
Halfway through that thought, she realized she could sense a shikon shard.  
  
This minor epiphany had the same effect as a dousing in very cold water; suddenly, Kagome was as wide awake as she'd ever been in her life. Her long black hair was whipped around her face by the wind as she squinted into the darkness, trying to see if there were anything moving. The shard – or perhaps there was more than one – was off to the northeast and a bit above her... whoever was carrying it, they were coming down the mountainside towards her.  
  
And they were coming very, very fast.  
  
Kagome grabbed her bow and scrambled up the slope to the opening. "Hello?" she called. "Shippou? Souten?"  
  
Two pairs of glowing eyes, one green and one red-orange – oh, what she wouldn't have given to see Inuyasha's yellow-gold ones! – looked back at her from out of the pitch blackness inside the cave. "What is it?" asked Shippou's voice.  
  
"The mononoke's coming," Kagome said. "I can feel the shards getting closer."  
  
She could hear the scrape of metal as the two youkai picked up their weapons, then the rustling of clothing as they got to their feet.  
  
"It's above us," she added as they climbed out and slid down to the bottom of the slope. "I think it knows we're here. It's heading right in this direction."  
  
"Do you smell anything?" Souten asked Shippou.  
  
"Just lightning and rain," he replied. "It's dulling everything else."  
  
A shape moved at the crest of the slope. Kagome pulled out an arrow and fitted it to her bow; from this range, she could tell exactly where the shards were. There were two, in close proximity to each other and hugging the ground as their owner climbed down the slope. It occurred to her that she was about to meet the creature that killed Kouga, and although she'd never been a vengeful person, a little fire of righteous anger flared up in her chest at the thought.  
  
Something snarled. A flash of lightning momentarily lit the area, and by it's light Kagome got her first look at the mononoke. The impression was almost entirely of a mouthful of teeth – big, sharp teeth with spittle running off them as their owner growled at her. It reminded her at first of the Alien... but then the thing crawled out of the trees, and Kagome realized that a far better cinematic analogy would be Gollum.  
  
The mononoke, if that's what it was, was vaguely human-shaped, but stalked towards her on all fours. It was naked and filthy, with unkempt hair matted into dangling dreadlocks. One ear was missing, and it was limping on an arm and leg that each bore a big, festering black wound. Its huge eyes were glowing icy blue in the night.  
  
And it was looking directly at Kagome. 


	15. Chapter Fifteen: The Mononoke

There was a soft popping sound, then a burst of blue light as foxfire flared to life in a wide ring around Kagome and her friends. The startled mononoke jumped, glanced over its shoulder, and then turned its gaze back to its opponents, saliva dribbling off its lips as it snarled at them. The illumination brought every lurid detail of the monster into sharp focus; its stump of a tail was bent at an odd angle, as if it had been broken and not healed properly, and every bone was visible under the skin. Its eyes had a wild, unfocused look, as if they were pointing in two different directions.  
  
This creature wasn't evil, Kagome thought. It was insane.  
  
Before the foxfire lit, she'd had an arrow nocked and ready, but now she found herself hesitating to fire it. The mononoke no longer struck her as frightening or repulsive... in fact, she couldn't even really be angry with it for what it had done to Kouga's pack. Instead, the only emotion it inspired was pity. This poor thing looked half starved, and the festering injuries in its arm and leg must have been indescribably painful. It didn't deserve to die. Not unless there was no other way to put it out of its misery.  
  
And while she was in the middle of these thoughts, it sprang at her.  
  
There was no time to react consciously. Kagome loosed her arrow more by reflex than by decision, and her aim was off – the projectile went wide and vanished into the crackling blue flames. She immediately reached for another, but her fingers groped at empty air. Her quiver was at her hip now, not across her back. She'd forgotten.  
  
A streak of blue and white sailed by, and the mononoke was suddenly knocked to the ground as Souten intercepted it in midair. The two youkai rolled across the stone almost to the edge of the ring of foxfire, but stopped just short of pasting through it. Souten's spear had fallen out of her reach, and the mononoke was on top of her, its hands around her neck as it attempted to choke her. Shippou ran to drag it off, allowing Souten to pick herself up and retrieve her weapon, but the mononoke wriggled out of his grip and threw him to the ground...  
  
Kagome shook her head hard, trying to force herself to do something besides just _stand_ there. Things were happening too fast for her to follow. Shippou and Souten were nimble, but this thing was faster and despite its emaciated appearance both of them together were just barely holding it back... and 'holding it back' was exactly what they were doing. The entire time it struggled with them, its icy eyes were locked on Kagome. The youkai were obstacles to it... it wanted _her_.  
  
She finally found an arrow and fitted it to the string, then realized with a feeling of cold helplessness that she couldn't shoot it. Shippou and Souten were both youkai, too. If Kagome missed, which would be far too easy when trying to fire into a three-way fight, she might kill one of her friends by accident.  
  
One or other of them – she couldn't see which – threw the mononoke against the cliff. It hit with a painful-sounding crunch and tumbled headlong down the slope to land in a heap of skin and bones at the bottom. Souten ran towards it, spear at the ready, but it had already bounced to its feet like a rubber ball. It grabbed the spear and ripped it out of Souten's hands, leaving her weapon-less as it jumped on top of her.  
  
Shippou dashed in with a wordless bellow of rage. His sword flashed in the firelight, and Kagome shut her eyes.  
  
She couldn't keep them shut long, though; she heard a cry of pain, and when she looked she found that the mononoke was pinning Souten down with one foot and gripping the blade of Shippou's sword in both fists. Dark blood was bubbling out between its fingers.  
  
For a moment, Shippou and the mononoke just stood there on either end of the sword, their gazes locked. Then the kitsune yanked the weapon free, spun around, and thrust it into the mononoke's abdomen.  
  
The monster staggered backwards, looking down at the hilt protruding from its middle... then, incredibly, yanked the weapon out and threw it aside before attacking Shippou again. For a moment, Kagome could see the place where the blade had come through its back, but then the injury sealed itself up without leaving so much as a scar.  
  
Kagome stood frozen. She wasn't sure how or why, but she was _positive_ that shouldn't have been able to happen. Something was wrong here. Something important. But what?  
  
Then she realized; the creature still had those big, ugly wounds in its arm and leg. Why should it have _those_ if it could heal instantly after being gutted with a sword?  
  
The shikon shards she'd sensed were lodged in those wounds.  
  
But _that_ was absurd. That wasn't what pieces of Shikon no Tama did. If anything, the presence of the shards ought to have helped those injuries heal _faster_, not made them stay open and rot! What in the world was going on?  
  
She had to get those shards out.  
  
The mononoke was on top of Shippou. He was lying on his back on the ground, teeth gritted as he held it at arms length, but it was scrabbling at him with both hands and both feet, ripping his fur vest to shreds. With obvious effort, he threw it off of himself. It rolled across the ground...  
  
And came to rest right at the feet of Souten, who thrust her spear into its back. Blue-white lightning roared down out of the sky, and everything vanished into the brilliant light. Somewhere under the booming thunder and the ringing in her ears, Kagome heard a voice screaming in pain.  
  
It was a second before her vision cleared, and when it did, she found the mononoke lying sprawled on the ground, its body still convulsing from the shock.  
  
Shippou grabbed his sword and raised it, ready to decapitate the fallen monster.  
  
"STOP!" shrieked Kagome. She ran forward and grabbed Shippou's arm. "Shippou, don't! Don't kill him! I think I can help him!"  
  
He turned his head and snarled – actually _snarled_ – at her. This was absolutely the last reaction Kagome expected, and she quickly let go and stepped back involuntarily... but then Shippou seemed to remember himself. He looked a little embarrassed as he slowly lowered his sword and backed away, his chest heaving as he breathed. Souten put a hand on his shoulder.  
  
The mononoke hadn't moved yet.  
  
"I don't think he's evil," Kagome explained patiently. "I think those wounds are driving him crazy." She knelt down beside the unconscious creature. "Maybe if I can the shards out, he'll be all right."  
  
Shippou looked skeptical, but he nodded.  
  
Kagome swallowed as she looked at the mononoke's injuries. They were utterly revolting; purple with rot and crawling with maggots. How could _anything_, even a youkai, live with something like that? How could he even _move_? She started to put out a hand, then thought better of it and instead took out an arrow.  
  
Despite his comatose state, the mononoke's entire body spasmed when Kagome inserted the point of the arrow into his leg. It took Souten and Shippou together to hold him down as she teased the shard out. His arms and legs flailed wildly, and he foamed at the mouth like a rabid dog. When the shard became visible against the rotten flesh, Kagome picked it up... and the mononoke screamed in pain as the wound abruptly healed. Not even a scar was left behind.  
  
Kagome swallowed and moved on to the shard in his arm. When the arrow touched him, the mononoke's other hand lashed out and scratched Kagome across the face. Souten quickly grabbed his wrist to keep it from happening again... but his eyelids were fluttering. He was going to wake up in a moment. As quickly as she could, Kagome flicked the second shard out and grabbed it, and once again the mononoke writhed as the wound healed perfectly in a matter of seconds.  
  
Then he suddenly went limp. The air rushed out of his lungs with a sigh, and his entire body went utterly limp. His eyes remained half-open, but they were staring at eternity.  
  
"Um..." Kagome ran her thumb across the shards in her hand. "Is he dead?"  
  
Souten gingerly pressed two fingers against the mononoke's neck. "Not quite, I don't think."  
  
"If he tries anything, I'll fix that," Shippou promised. He paused a moment, then lifted one of the mononoke's hands and sniffed it. "Smells like..." he frowned. "Smells like wolf..."  
  
A drop landed on Kagome's shoulder. It was starting to rain.  
  
"Are those Shikon shards?" asked Souten, looking at the crystal fragments in Kagome's hand.  
  
"I don't know," Kagome replied, quite honestly. They _felt_ like Shikon shards, and as far as she could tell in the flickering bluish light of the foxfire, they looked like them, too... but that just didn't make any sense. Why should Shikon shards do what these had done?  
  
"Hey, watch out," said Shippou. "He's coming around."  
  
The mononoke was indeed starting to twitch. Souten grabbed his wrists again and Shippou's muscles tensed, but Kagome didn't move. She wasn't sure how she knew, but she was quite sure this creature was no longer dangerous – she sat quietly and watched as he opened his eyes and looked around in apparent confusion.  
  
"Hello," she said. "We're not going to hurt you. We're friends."  
  
The mononoke squinted, then his lips moved as he attempted to answer her, but no sound came out.  
  
"What was that?" Kagome leaned closer to hear.  
  
"Be careful!" Shippou warned her.  
  
"Wh..." the mononoke managed, his chest heaving with the effort. "Wh... Ka... go... me."  
  
She sat up straight in shock. "D... did you just say my name?" she asked.  
  
The mononoke smiled faintly. "Ka...gome," he whispered again, and then lapsed back into unconsciousness. 


	16. Chapter Sixteen: Inuyasha Awakens

The first thing Inuyasha was aware of was that his back hurt. It was as if hot knives were sticking into him in three places; one down by his left hip, and two up on his right shoulder. The pain got worse and worse until it filled up his entire perception and those three points were the only parts of his body he was sure existed anymore, but he just gritted his teeth and kept telling himself that this was a good sign. After all, wounds hurt because they were healing, didn't they? An injury you didn't feel was the one that would prove fatal – or at least, that's what he had always been told. Inuyasha had never been in a position to find out for himself, and never planned to be.  
  
It must have been true, because after a while, the pain subsided. It didn't go away entirely, but it did settle down to a dull ache that he soon taught himself to ignore.  
  
After that, the next thing Inuyasha found himself able to think about was the voices. He wasn't certain if they were real or imaginary; he'd hear them for a while and then they'd go away, but they always came back again. Sometimes he could almost identify what they were saying. Others, they seemed to be babbling nonsense. They were all men, humans from the sound of it, and they talked about money and foreigners and war. Once or twice, he thought he heard his own name.  
  
When he finally came back to full consciousness, several important things came to his attention in quick succession:  
  
First, he couldn't see or smell – wherever he was, it was very dark and smelled to high heaven of rotten fish. If somebody had _tried_ to select a place that would assault his sensitive nose as brutally as possible, they could not have found a better one... and come to it, whoever had put him in here, that had probably been their intention exactly.  
  
Second, he was thoroughly tied up with a lot of very thick rope, which also smelled of fish.  
  
Thirdly, the tetsusaiga was missing.  
  
Fourth and probably most important of all, he did not have any clothes on.  
  
It wasn't difficult to figure out what had happened – the men camped out in the shrine must have robbed him and tied him up while he was unconscious, and now they were shipping him off to who knew where. Well, he was hardly going to stand for that. Now that he was awake, he immediately set about getting out of the ropes.  
  
This was rather more difficult than it should have been; Inuyasha was still weak from the injuries he'd sustained, and whoever had tied the knots had known what they were doing. But after some concentrated effort he squirmed out of them, pushed them aside, and got up. Now what?  
He knew by now that he was in some kind of wooden box, a crate about five feet square and four feet high. It wouldn't be difficult to break his way out of that, but thanks to the pervasive smell of old fish, he had absolutely no idea what he might expect to find outside. For all he knew, all those men with their strange but deadly weapons might still be out there, waiting for him. There was no way to tell.  
  
But when he paid attention, he realized he could hear voices... funny, why hadn't he been aware of that earlier? He put an ear to the side of the crate to listen – two men with thick accents were carrying on a conversation  
  
"Listen, you look at apples before buying, yes?" one of them asked, in painfully bad Japanese.  
  
"No, no, it's very dangerous, foreigner-san!" the other insisted, speaking with an accent that sounded like Kyushu to Inuyasha, though he'd never spent enough time on the southernmost island to be sure. "You heard him thrashing around in there! If we open the box, he'll kill us both!"  
  
"I don't know that," replied the foreigner, unimpressed, "you could have a couple of pigs banging around in there, I don't know. If there's a ferocious demon, I want to see!"  
  
The voices so faint, and yet they sounded as if they were nearby. Inuyasha shook his head, trying to clear his ears, but doing so made him dizzy. Why did he feel so weak? He pushed his fingers into his hair, then quickly pulled them out again and ran his thumb across the nails – nails, not claws. And at that point, he realized that this set of sensations was very familiar... it must be after sunset on the new moon.  
  
But what kind of sense did that make? There should have been a week to go before the new moon in his own time, and nearly two in Kagome's – he kept track! He couldn't possibly have been unconscious for two weeks from those three small wounds. It was absurd.  
  
"Foreigner-san," the southerner was saying, "I really have to..."  
  
"Open the box," said the foreigner.  
  
The southerner sighed. "Fine, fine. But on your head be it when he gets loose!"  
  
Oh, shit.  
  
Inuyasha crept back as far as he could into the corner of the box, but there wasn't anything in there to hide behind. When they opened it, they'd see him... and when they discovered the 'ferocious demon' they'd been discussing reduced to being a mere human, they would kill him. He didn't even have the rusty, untransformed tetsusaiga to defend himself.  
  
Well, if he was going down, then he was bloody well going down fighting.  
  
The lid lifted and light flooded in, and without even giving the men time to look in, Inuyasha leapt out and made a run for it... or at least, tried to. One man, who must've been the southerner, let out a strangled scream and fell over backwards, but the other grabbed Inuyasha's arm and twisted it up behind his back. Inuyasha struggled, but the man had a powerful grip; with his other hand, he took hold of the hanyou's hair and pulled his head back to take a look.  
  
This also allowed Inuyasha to look at the foreigner, and what he saw startled him; this man was _enormous_, as tall as Sesshoumaru and built like a wall, thick and wide. He had large, round eyes and a very prominent nose in a pale face, and his hair was a brilliant shade of orange that could not possibly have been natural. He frowned fiercely as he studied Inuyasha, then, without loosening his grip, looked at the smaller man sitting terrified on the gravel road.  
  
"_This_ is your ferocious demon?" growled the foreigner.  
  
"It's a ruse, foreigner-san!" the man protested. "It changed its shape to deceive you!"  
  
"Bullshit!" snapped the foreigner. He loosened his grip on Inuyasha, but then grabbed him again when the first thing the hanyou tried to do was flee. "Stop, stop," he said, "it's all right, boy, I'm not going to hurt you." With his free hand, he picked up a jacket draped over a nearby box and swung it around Inuyasha's shoulders. "Here, put this on. That's right. What's your name?"  
  
Inuyasha was confused... why was this man being so friendly? It took him a moment to figure it out, and when he did, his mouth dropped open: the foreigner must _not know what hanyou were_! When the box opened and its contents proved to be a human boy, this man hadn't realized that this was a half-blood youkai who through some ridiculous coincidence just happened to be helpless right now... he thought the southerner had been lying to him!  
  
"Boy?" the foreigner asked. "Do you speak Japanese?"  
  
"Of course I speak Japanese," said Inuyasha.  
  
"Then what's your name?" the man repeated. "Mine is McKenzie. What's yours?"  
  
Inuyasha glanced at the southerner, who was in the slow, shaky process of picking himself up, and decided he'd better lie. After all, his name was also a description of what he was – the weakling dog-demon. The first possible pseudonym that came to mind was, "Higurashi. Uh. Higurashi Souta."  
  
"John McKenzie." The foreigner took Inuyasha's left hand and pumped it up and down a couple of times for no apparent reason. "Don't worry, I don't bite. Have you seen an American before? I'm from California. That's east of here," he waved in that general direction, "on the other side of the ocean. I come to Japan to buy silk. Are you all right?"  
  
Inuyasha glanced down – the wound in his stomach was no longer visible, but now that he was only unnerved rather than terrified, he remembered something important. "What happened to my clothes?" he asked the southerner.  
  
"I beg your forgiveness." The southerner bowed very low. "I sold them."  
  
"You did _what_?" Inuyasha grabbed the man's collar.  
  
"Sold them!" he repeated, terrified. "Please don't hurt me, youkai-sama! I'm just a simple man trying to make some money! I meant no offense!"  
  
"What about my sword?" Inuyasha demanded.  
  
The southerner turned a colour Inuyasha had only seen before on the undersides of fish.  
  
"You heard him," said McKenzie. "What _about _his sword?"  
  
"Don't hurt me," the southerner whimpered again.  
  
Inuyasha shook him. "I'm going to hurt you no matter what you say now! Where is my sword?"  
  
"I sold it!" The man was audibly moments from tears. "To a collector in Tokyo! Youkai-sama, I need to feed my family..."  
  
"Stop sniveling!" Inuyasha dropped him and turned around, and then realized for the first time that he was not in a place that he recognized. It was just past sunset, and he, McKenzie, and the southerner were standing on a dock at a harbour full of strange-looking boats. There were a great many people around, some of them wearing familiarly Japanese clothing, others dressed in styles unlike those of his own time _or_ Kagome's. Where was he?  
  
Well, from what McKenzie had been saying, he must still be in Japan. That was, he supposed, a good start. The only way to find out any more was to ask. "Where am I?" He directed the question towards McKenzie.  
  
He was completely unprepared for the answer. "Kagoshima," said McKenzie, pronouncing it with the emphasis on the wrong syllables.  
  
"_Kagoshima_?" Inuyasha could barely believe his ears. That was way down at the ass-end of the island chain! "How did I get to Kagoshima?"  
  
"Nobody would buy you in Tokyo," the southerner told him miserably.  
  
"The people in Tokyo are not fools," McKenzie said sourly. "Souta, yes? Come with me. I'll find clothes for you. Would you like some supper?" 


	17. Chapter Seventeen: Trapped

"I'm sorry about my bad Japanese," said McKenzie conversationally, as he led Inuyasha up the gangplank onto his ship. "I've been away for quite some time, and my wife insists upon speaking English with me – she says it nearly makes her cry, the way I mangle her native tongue." He smiled. "Speak any English, Souta?" 

"A little," said Inuyasha. He'd picked up a few words and phrases here and there from being occasionally forced to help Kagome with her studying, but he'd never had any occasion to use them and couldn't recall much at the moment. He knew the words for 'please', 'thank you', 'goodbye', and 'good morning', but that was hardly enough to hold a conversation. "Not much."

"Well, a little is better than none at all," said McKenzie. "Come on inside, we'll get you something to eat."

He led his guest into a cabin, furnished sparingly but with a recognizably western-style raised bed and chairs at the small table. Here, he made Inuyasha sit down, and offered him both some clothes and a meal, as promised. The clothes were a bit odd – they didn't really look like they came from Inuyasha's time or Kagome's, though they were closer to the latter. There was a grey-blue shirt that buttoned up the front, and a pair of charcoal-coloured trousers that didn't stay up on their own, but had to be held in place with straps that went over his shoulders. He suspected strongly that the ensemble looked ridiculous, but at least it covered him, and it would have to do for now.

The food was some sort of beef dish, and it, too, wasn't quite the same as anything from either of the eras Inuyasha was familiar with... but then, he was starting to have a hunch that he wasn't _in_ either of those times. How that worked, he had no idea, and he didn't consider it worth worrying about just at the moment. The important thing now was to get out of here and get his stuff back. Then he could worry about the details.

The details, however, did not seem to want to be shoved aside so easily, and the one that was mainly concerning him right now was the question of what time it was. It couldn't be _too_ late; there were far too many people up and about for it to be the middle of the night. But there was no glow on the western horizon, meaning the sun must have set some time ago. Inuyasha was only safe here as long as his hosts thought he was human. He had to leave before he changed back.

He wished McKenzie would go away, but no such thing appeared about to happen – the foreigner left in order to give him some privacy to dress, but came right back and sat with him as he ate, and kept asking questions.

"So you're from Tokyo, then?" was the first of these.

"Yes," said Inuyasha. It was sort of true; Kaede's little village was a long way from the city he knew as Edo, but by Kagome's time, Tokyo had grown to engulf it and many other small towns.

McKenzie nodded. "I'm sorry, by the way, that we couldn't get you any shoes. We can find a pair for you tomorrow."

"I prefer going barefoot," said Inuyasha. He'd seen the heavy-looking, confining shoes the people here wore, and didn't like the look of them at all.

"Well, that's up to you," said McKenzie amiably. "How did you end up in that box? I've asked the man who was trying to sell you, but he keeps babbling about demons in a shrine."

That might have been funny had Inuyasha been in the mood. "That's none of your business," he said. "I just need to get back to Tokyo as quickly as I can."

"No problem," said McKenzie. "We're heading back up that way next week, as soon as we're done unloading here. You can come along with us; we won't mind the extra pair of hands."

Inuyasha shook his head. "I'll make my own way," he said. Heaven only knew what McKenzie would do if he found out what his guest really was. It occurred to Inuyasha that this was the first time he'd ever been more frightened of being seen in his hanyou form than his human one, and the idea was a bit absurd... but at the moment, nobody seemed to want to hurt him. He didn't want that to change.

"That's not a very good idea," said McKenzie. "It's not safe to travel alone in Kyushu. If you try to go to Tokyo by the overland route, you'll have to go right through the occupied area. You'll be much safer coming with us."

"I'm used to going alone," said Inuyasha. "I don't need anybody's help."

"You may not think you do," said McKenzie, "but if you want to walk you'll be going far out of your way to avoid the rebellion, and you'll have to get a ship between the islands anyway. The rebels have already taken at least one city and the hills are full of them. They're not going to let you thought just because you're a kid."

"I'm not a kid," snarled Inuyasha.

"Of course you're not," McKenzie said automatically, in a voice that meant exactly the opposite.

"And I'm used to soldiers," the hanyou added. "I told you, I'll go by myself."

"These aren't soldiers," McKenzie was insistent. "They're samurai. Look, do you read the newspapers? I guess not. There are several thousand samurai who are rebelling against the Oligarchs; they think they're going to Tokyo to overthrow the government. Until they're rounded up, you really ought to stay with us. We'll keep you safe."

The foreigner spoke as if rebellious samurai were something unusual in this time... and, Inuyasha realized, it really _couldn't_ be Kagome's time, because she'd told him once that the samurai had been wiped out a hundred years before she was born. But it could hardly be _his_ time, either, if rebellions were considered something strange. "I said I'd go by myself," he repeated impatiently.

"Fine, fine," said McKenzie, holding up his hands in mock defeat. "Eat your supper, Souta. I have some things to do, but if you need anything, just ask for me. You can stay here for the night, and we'll see about sending you home tomorrow morning, okay?"

"Okay," said Inuyasha, but he was absolutely determined that he wasn't going to _be_ here come tomorrow morning.

McKenzie shut the door when he left, but he wasn't so quick about it that Inuyasha didn't catch a glimpse of the man who'd been waiting outside. "McKenzie-san," this person said, as the foreigner stepped into the hallway.

"What is it, Akira?" asked McKenzie. The door closed with a click, and there was a second, far more ominous sound, as he locked it behind him.

The man called Akira made some kind of reply; through the wood, Inuyasha could hear the men's voices, but human ears were not up to deciphering what they were actually saying. Inuyasha held his breath, trying to hear, but couldn't pick out the words, so he pushed his plate aside and got up as quietly as he could. His bare feet made no sound on the floor as he crept up to put an ear against the door.

"... let him wander off, are you?" asked Akira.

"Of course not," snorted McKenzie. "I didn't save the poor kid from slavery just to let him go out there alone and get killed."

"That's not quite what I meant," said Akira. "Saichiro said he sold the boy's sword, remember? A kid that age who carries a sword probably comes from a samurai family, himself."

"You mean he's liable to be some kind of spy?" McKenzie sounded startled.

"Oh, I doubt _that_," said Akira. "I'm thinking he might be a grandson or nephew of one of the Oligarchs. The rebels are mostly from Kyushu, just like our friend the salesman, while young Master Higurashi's accent is definitely Tokyo. Where better to get slaves than from the families of your enemies? I think there's a Higurashi or two among the Oligarchs, though it's hardly an uncommon name. But if he _is_..."

"So somebody in Tokyo might be willing to reward whoever brings this boy back," said McKenzie. "I hadn't thought of that. I'll be taking him home one way or another, but I can't complain if I get paid for it."

"My thoughts exactly," Akira agreed. The voices grew faint, and Inuyasha heard the sound of retreating footsteps.

Shit.

Inuyasha leaned against the door a moment longer, then turned around and gave the table a good solid kick. He would have broken it if he'd possessed his usual strength, and even as he was, the blow should have upset it... but it, like the rest of the furniture in the room, was bolted to the floor to keep it from moving when the ship rolled, and all he accomplished was painfully stubbing his toe. This didn't improve his mood at all. Searching for _something_ to vent his anger on, he grabbed the plate he'd been eating off and hurled it against the wall... where, infuriatingly, it bounced without breaking. It was all Inuyasha could do to keep himself from shouting in frustration.

But this was a waste of energy. He had to get out of this room and off this ship before daybreak. With a bit of effort, he forced himself to calm down and look around his prison; the room had windows, but there were glass panes in them, and they did not open. He could have smashed one, but even then, they didn't look large enough to crawl through.

That left only the door as a possible escape route, and it was quite firmly locked. Inuyasha made several tries to break it down, but all to no avail; in his current state, he simply was not strong enough. He was, for now, trapped.

Furious, he sat down heavily on the bed and scowled. Come sunrise, he'd be able to break out of here easily, but anything could happen between now and then; they might even sail away, and then he'd really have a hell of a time getting back to Tokyo. It looked, however, as if he were just going to have to wait it out.

Damn, damn, _damn_.


	18. Chapter Eighteen: Escape

There was very little Inuyasha could do the rest of the night except for pacing the room like a caged lion and trying repeatedly – but fruitlessly – to escape from his prison. The door refused to give way no matter how he hammered on it, and he didn't have the strength to break the window glass. Several times, his patience gave out and he got up to pound on some possible escape route, and every time, he was forced to stop before he hurt himself. The frustration was almost physically painful.

As evening turned into night, the sounds of activity on the rest of the ship faded out as the sailors finished their work and their suppers and headed off to bed. Unable to think of anything better to do, Inuyasha finished his supper – after all, who knew when he might next get something to eat? – and then took a nap... but he slept only lightly, trying at all times to remain aware of what was going on around him. If somebody came in to check on him, he didn't want to miss the chance.

He must have fallen properly asleep eventually, though, because he couldn't remember any passing time between his tossing and turning and wishing horrible fates on everybody he'd seen that day, and then suddenly waking up with the instinctive knowledge that sunrise was imminent. Footsteps, voices, and other sounds of people up and around were audible, and the sky outside the room's east-facing windows was turning pink. Good! In half an hour at most, he'd be getting out of here.

With twenty minutes left, and the sun rising much, much too slowly, McKenzie unlocked the door and stepped into the room, a newspaper in his hands. "Good morning, Souta," he said. "Did you sleep well?"

It was all Inuyasha could do not to attack him then and there – bloody damn it! In anticipating his escape, Inuyasha had pretty much counted on not being seen up close. No doubt these people would pull out their weapons the moment they got a good look at him. He'd have to be long gone before they realized what had hit them. The last thing he needed was to start transforming while McKenzie was right there in the room with him.

"Not at all," he said, answering McKenzie's question. "What do you mean by locking me in here like a prisoner?" He studied the man carefully – McKenzie's posture wasn't that of a man carrying a concealed weapon, but his bulk coat and the newspaper could have been hiding almost anything, and he must feel pretty confident of his ability to overpower Inuyasha or he wouldn't have left the door ajar. Perhaps Inuyasha could get past him somehow...

"To keep you safe," said McKenzie. "After what you said and did last night, I didn't want you running off. You don't need to be afraid of me, Souta," he said gently. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just going to take you back to your family."

No, he was too close to the door. Inuyasha would have to push him out of the way to get past. Maybe if he moved suddenly enough... he climbed up on top of the table and sat down on it, facing McKenzie. "You _can't_ take me back to my family. My parents are dead, and my half-brother wants to kill me."

McKenzie's bushy orange eyebrows rose. "Your guardian, then."

"I'm my own guardian."

But the American clearly didn't believe any of what Inuyasha had just told him; he put the newspaper down on the table and sighed. "Souta," he said, "just _listen_. No matter what you might have been told, I am _not_ your enemy. I came here to do business, not to make war. I'm just trying to do you a favour. Now, forgetting nationalities and just as one human being to another..."

Inuyasha jumped up, shoved McKenzie against the wall, and ran out of the room. In the hallway he paused, unable to remember which way led to the deck. The stairs were on his right; he took them three at a time.

"Stop! Hey!" he heard McKenzie shouting. "_Ow_! Somebody catch that kid!"

Inuyasha dashed out onto the deck, but came to a screeching halt as he found himself surrounded. The sailors either were obeying McKenzie's orders or perhaps had just heard him coming, and they pounced on him like a pack of bullying dogs all after the same cat. Inuyasha struggled – he was starting to be able to hear fainter sounds, and could pick out each man's individual scent, but his strength hadn't yet returned to him; there was still too much time to go until sunrise. They overpowered him easily.

When McKenzie came limping out on deck, half a minute later, he looked furious. "Hold on to him," he ordered, though the instruction was hardly necessary – it didn't take five grown men to hold down one teenage boy. McKenzie bent down to look Inuyasha in the eye.

"Look," he said angrily. "For the last time – I am trying to _help_ you."

"Foreigner-san!" The Southerner came trotting up. "Foreigner-san, you mustn't..."

"Be quiet," McKenzie told him. "Souta, look at me when I'm talking to you. Are you a criminal or something? I don't care. I saved you from being sold into slavery and now I'm trying to finish the job by taking you home. What can I do to show you that I'm trustworthy? Name it."

"Nothing!" Inuyasha spat. The sky was getting steadily brighter. Any moment now, the edge of the sun would appear above the sea...

"Well, you'd best think of something," said McKenzie, "because you and I are going to have to come to some kind of understanding here. I don't want to have to keep you locked up, but if you make me, I certainly..." he stopped speaking and blinked a couple of times. "I certainly won't hesitate..." he finished uncertainly. His eyes grew wide.

The first light of sunrise fell across the deck of the ship, and Inuyasha grinned – much, _much_ better! Strength flowed back into his limbs, and he could feel his ears transforming and his teeth and nails lengthening into fangs and claws. McKenzie staggered backwards in horror, fell over a coil of rope and landed on his bottom. The Southerner screamed like a little girl. The sailors shouted out various obscenities and loosened their grip on Inuyasha's arms... but not quickly enough. He pulled himself free, then grabbed one of the men and tossed him into the water, just to make a point.

"I told you! I told you!" the Southerner wailed. "Foreigner-san, you should have _listened_..."

"You shut up," Inuyasha said. He grabbed the Southerner and slung the man over his shoulders like a sack of rice, then leapt up into the ringing with his hostage screaming all the way.

"Help!" the man wailed. "Somebody help me! Youkai-sama, please, don't kill me, I beg of you! My wife! She's sick! And I have three sons, she's not able to look after them, we have no land and so I must make a living any way I can. I swear, if you don't kill me..."

"Shut _up_!" Inuyasha repeated.

"Yes, youkai-sama."

There was utter pandemonium on the deck of the ship. Men were running every which way shouting "youkai!" and "demon!", while McKenzie frantically tried to disentangle himself from the rope. One of the men came and helped him to his feet.

"What the hell _is_ that thing?" McKenzie demanded.

"Youkai!" the sailor told him. "Get out of the open! Hurry, it will kill us all!"

"Foreigner-san!" the Southerner screamed. "Save me!" Inuyasha tightened his grip, allowing his claws to begin digging into the man's flesh. He heard a whimper. "Shutting up, youkai-sama, I'm shutting up."

All right, then – time to go before anybody got out one of those weapons that could hurt him. Inuyasha ran down a spar and jumped onto the dock, then from there to the roof of a warehouse. The stupid southerner never stopped screaming once as they hopped from rooftop to rooftop across Kagoshima. People down below cried out in surprise at seeing him, and sounds like small explosions went off... but if anybody did turn a weapon on him, they must have had lousy aim. Nobody hit him.

"Yokai-sama," the Southerner whimpered, "where are you taking me?"

"We're going to Tokyo," Inuyasha told him. "And you're going to help me get my clothes and my sword back, because if you _don't_ help me get my clothes and sword back, you're _really_ going to wish you had. Understand?"

"Oh, yes, youkai-sama," the Southerner blithered. "Of course, I'm so sorry for any offense, sorry for any trouble, I'd be happy to..."

"Shut _up_!"

The chaos on the ship calmed down in a hurry after the... whatever it was... bounced off, leaving in its stead an atmosphere of profound relief and new eagerness to get underway. John McKenzie barked a few orders and made sure everybody was doing something at least close to what they were supposed to be doing, and then retired to his cabin for a good stiff drink. He was on this third shot of whiskey when the first mate, Akira Gotu, knocked on the door.

"McKenzie-san?" he asked.

"Come in," said McKenzie. "Is everybody all right?"

"I think so. The only person it took was Saichiro."

McKenzie nodded, unsure what he'd thought about that. He'd never liked the slimy little Southerner who was always wandering around the country trying to sell strange things to anybody who looked remotely foreign... but he still didn't deserve whatever it was that thing was going to do to him. "What _was_ it?" he asked. "What is a... youkai, they were calling it?"

Akira was surprised by the question. "Has Mayumi never used the word?" McKenzie had learned most of his Japanese from his wife, a woman from Osaka.

"Not that I remember," said McKenzie. "What does it mean? Saichiro called it a demon."

"Demon..." Akira frowned as he thought about that. "No, not quite a demon... at least, not what you call a demon in the West, not the opposite of an angel. There's a better way to translate it." He bit his lip. "I can't remember the English word. A god? No, that's not right."

"Demigod?" guessed McKenzie. He could certainly imagine such creatures coercing people into worshipping them; the damned thing had picked up a man twice its size in one hand, and then jumped fifty feet with Saichiro kicking and struggling on its back.

"No, no, they're not gods. Spirits?" Akira tried, but rejected that, too. "No, that's not right, either. Spirits are immaterial beings, aren't they? Youkai are flesh, and mortal. They bleed and die just like humans, but they're much stronger, and some of them have magical powers..."

"Oh!" McKenzie brightened for a moment, then became more worried than ever as he realized what word Akira was looking for. "Monsters."

"That's the one," Akira agreed. "A youkai is a monster."

McKenzie nodded, then he stood up, gulped down the rest of his whiskey, and grabbed his coat. "Keep everybody busy," he said. "I'll be back as soon as possible."

"Where are you going?" Akira wanted to know.

"The telegraph office," McKenzie replied, "and then the newspaper. It said it was going to Tokyo... people deserve to know it's coming."


	19. Chapter Nineteen: A Cold Welcome

The wolf youkai still lived in the same spot Kagome remembered; in a remote little valley, with their main base in a set of surprisingly dry caves hidden behind a little waterfall. But like everything else in this strange future, it had changed in disquieting ways. The route Kagome would have taken into the valley was no longer open. The wolf youkai hadn't done anything so human as to build walls, but they had fortified their home and closed off potential entrances using anything and everything at hand; piles of boulders, giant dead tree trunks, and deep trenches. The only way in that remained was to wade upstream through the stream – a very visible and very vulnerable path.

Souten went first, using her spear as a walking stick to test the stability of the stream bed before stepping, but obviously ready to put it to more conventional use as soon as occasion required. Her head turned slowly and smoothly from side to side, her long ears twitching as she listened for the slightest sound. In the middle was Kagome, and Shippou, with the limp body of the half-conscious mononoke slung over his shoulders like a sack of rice, brought up the rear.

Having managed to murmur something that sounded eerily like Kagome's name, the mononoke had slipped into semi-consciousness and hadn't been very responsive since. He twitched when poked or pinched, and muttered statements that seemed to be mostly nonsense, but wouldn't wake up. Kagome and her companions had agreed that since he seemed to be a wolf youkai – or at least, had been one, at some point in the past – the best thing they could do for him was take him back to his own kind. If anybody knew how to help him, it would be his people.

They hadn't discussed the being's possible identity. Kagome wasn't sure what Shippou and Souten thought about it, but she had her own suspicions... and as they made their way upstream, she silently prayed for a sign that she was wrong.

The trees were thinning. A few more minutes of wading brought them to the head of the valley, and there were the cliff and waterfall, just as Kagome remembered them... almost. There were fewer trees around than there had been – she supposed they must have been pulled down in order to build the fortifications – and the pool at the bottom of the falls was wider than it had been. The water level must have risen.

No wolf youkai were visible, but Kagome knew they were there. She could _feel_ a half-dozen pairs of eyes on her, watching from every possible nook and cranny, and the way Shippou and Souten stopped and listened carefully told her that their heightened senses were aware of something she could not see.

"Come on out," said Shippou. "We know you're there."

"We're friends of Kouga's," Kagome added. "We don't mean any harm."

A sudden wind came whistling up the valley. It ruffled the surface of the water and shook a few dead autumn leaves off the trees, swirled around the three travelers for a moment and then was gone... leaving Kagome with the definite impression that they were being warned. This was their chance to go, it seemed to be saying – if they didn't leave, there would be consequences. She looked to Shippou and Souten for what to do next, but they showed no signs of backing down.

"Hello, Ayame," said Shippou.

_Then_ the wolf youkai came out. There were twice as many as Kagome had expected – two or three dozen of them appeared, as if out of thin air, from behind every tree, every rock and every bush in the valley. She found herself inspecting each in turn, looking for familiar faces. There might have been one or two among them that she recognized, but it was hard to say... they all seemed leaner and more tired than she remembered, with sunken cheeks and dark eyes. Probably not surprising for creatures who'd been sharing their mountains with a monster.

"Hello, Shippou," replied a voice from behind them. "Turn around."

Kagome, Shippou, and Souten turned, slowly and in unison. More of the youkai had come out to block their exit from the valley, and right in the middle of the stream was what _must_ have been Ayame, if only because there were no other females present.

If Kagome hadn't already heard Shippou greet her by name, she probably wouldn't have recognized the woman in the stream as Kouga's fiancée. Ayame's dark red hair had been cut very short, from the looks of it by somebody who wasn't all that good at cutting hair, and there was a pronounced nick out of her right ear. The right side of her face was marred by two long scars that ran from up in her hairline, down her cheek, and onto her chest. Her right eye was frosty gray instead of green, and didn't seem to point in the same direction as the left one.

She took a couple of steps forward, looking at Shippou as if he were some kind of dangerous animal. "Who is that?" she asked.

"This guy?" Shippou inclined his head towards the limp body he was carrying. "We think he's your mononoke."

Ayame's good eye widened in visible horror, and she came splashing up for a closer look. Shippou stood silently while she first sniffed the mononoke's arm, then forced its head up for a good look at its face. For a moment she covered her face with both hands and bent her head as if about to start crying, then stepped back and glared up at Shippou, clenching her fists in fury.

"I told you not to kill him!" she said. "I told you we could handle it ourselves!"

"Don't _even_ start," Shippou replied, in a tone Kagome would never have imagined him using towards a being more powerful than he. "Besides, he's not dead. Not quite, anyway. You can thank Kagome for that."

Ayame started. She hadn't seemed to pay any attention to Souten or Kagome yet, but now she looked at both in turn. Kagome met her gaze for a moment and saw her eyes narrow, but instead of saying anything, Ayame turned her attention back to Shippou.

"How did you catch him?" she asked.

"Well, once Kagome got the _Shikon shards_ out of his _arm_ and _leg_," Shippou said, putting very precise emphasis on the important words, "he just collapsed. You know, maybe if you'd _told_ me, two years ago, the _real_ reason you didn't want me messing with him, we could have worked out a..."

"Shut up," said Ayame.

"No," said Shippou. "I am asking you a perfectly valid god-damned question!"

"Because you'd have killed him anyway!" she snapped. "Don't you _dare_ talk to me like that! I will not be lectured by somebody I knew when he was nine years old!"

Shippou stood up straight. Counting the extra height from his long fox feet, he was a good eight inches taller than Ayame. "Well, as I seem to have to point out to an awful lot of people lately," he said, "I am _not_ nine years old anymore. You don't have to protect me from the harsh realities of the world, okay?"

"Protect _you_?" Ayame echoed in disbelief. "You think I was protecting _you_? What about _him_?" she pointed a clawed finger at the mononoke. "What about Kenichi? Do you really think I want my..."

They were going to start fighting any moment – Kagome just knew it. She had to _do_ something, and for simple lack of any sort of better idea, she hurriedly stepped in between the two youkai. "Um," she said, holding up her hands as she desperately tried to think of something to say to stop them. "Um, Shippou, I..."

"What are _you_ even _doing_ here?" Ayame asked.

"Me?" Kagome swallowed, and said the first thing that came to mind: "I'm looking for Shikon shards."

Ayame stared in disbelief for a moment, the burst into bitter laughter. "You _mean_ that?" she said. "You really think you can come back ten years later and just pick up where you left off? Do you have _any_ idea how man people you murdered?"

Kagome had no idea how to answer that. Murdered?

"_Murdered_," Ayame confirmed, as if Kagome had spoken the word aloud. "Kouga took his best fighters and went off to meet Naraku's demons – a third of the pack, and do you know how many came back? Four!"

"Ayame," said Shippou.

"My lady," Souten began.

"Shut up!" Ayame told them. "Then, a year later, he sets off to destroy that mononoke. It wasn't bothering us! It didn't even _care_ about us. It was just luring the villagers' children out into the woods at night. But he went out to get rid of it, because he thought it was what _you_ would have wanted him to do! I don't even _know_ what it did to him, but you can see the result! All because _you_ thought you could wander off and take ten years to come back! People are _dead_, and you think you can just come back and finish your job? The job they _died_ doing because _you_ weren't here?"

"Ayame!" Shippou repeated, grabbing her by the shoulders. "It's _not_ Kagome's fault!"

Kagome had never been so frightened of a wolf youkai... at least, not since the first day she'd met them, before she'd really known them as people. It was terrifying to be on the receiving end of such violent hatred. But she had to say _something_ – Ayame plainly expected her to, and might well attack her if she didn't. "S-so," she stammered, "so the m-mononoke," she glanced at it, "that _is_ Kouga?"

"Of course it is," snarled Ayame.

"A fact that you _could_ have mentioned _two years ago_," said Shippou.

"Shippou!" said Kagome. He was going to make things worse!

"Nobody asked you," Ayame told him.

"No," he said, "you _did_ ask me. That was the _problem_, because what you _said_ didn't make any sense! Maybe if you'd just told me what you apparently knew the entire time..."

Kagome took a deep breath, balled her fists, and shouted as loud as she could: "_stop it_!"

The two youkai ceased arguing and stared at her.

"Please don't fight," said Kagome. "Please? I'm sorry I didn't come back. Like Shippou said, it wasn't my fault. Something went wrong. I _thought_ I was only away for a few days. I'm _trying_ to fix things." She paused – it didn't seem right to just end her statement there, but she couldn't really think how to conclude it.

On Shippou's back, the mononoke suddenly made a small sound and moved as if attempting to roll over.

"I think he's coming around," said Souten, rather startling Kagome – she'd almost forgotten that Souten was there.

Ayame nodded, and turned a final cold glare on Kagome before seeming to decide to ignore her completely. She gestured for the group to follow her, and started towards the waterfall. "Bring him inside."


	20. Chapter Twenty: Kouga Awakens

Before they were allowed inside, the party had to hand over their weapons. Shippou very reluctantly surrendered his swords to one of the wolf youkai, making the man – who seemed downright terrified by him – promise to return them on demand and in exactly the same condition. Souten gave him a disapproving look and turned over her spear without comment, and Kagome kept her head down while handing over her boy and quiver. This done, they were permitted to follow Ayame behind the waterfall.

The caves beyond were damper and colder than Kagome remembered, but also larger – rubble had been cleared away to expose chambers and tunnels that hadn't been visible before. Females and pups, as well as a number of ordinary wolves, were huddled in the corners, and these sat up and watched their visitors with wary eyes. Two of the women were tending an elderly male who'd lost a leg. The scene reminded Kagome of things she'd seen on the evening news. This wasn't a den – it was a refugee camp.

"Shippou!" exclaimed a child's voice, and a dark-haired pup squirmed out of a female's arms and came boucing up to the party. "Shippou! Shi... what's that?" he asked, stopping short and looking up with huge green eyes at the limp body slung across the kitsune's shoulders.

"A friend of mine," said Shippou.

Ayame shot him a glare, then stepped between him and the pup. "Kenichi," she said, "go play outside."

"What?" asked Kenichi. "Why?"

"Because Mama says so." Ayame pointed firmly at the waterfall. "Outside."

"But Shippou's here!" Kenichi protested. "He hasn't been here in _ever_!" He turned to the visitors with big, pleading eyes, plainly hoping one of them would speak up on his behalf.

"Better do what she says, kiddo," said Shippou. "The grownups have a lot to talk about right now."

Kenichi looked like he'd been slapped. "I'm _almost_ grown up!" he protested.

"Outside," said Ayame.

Her son gave up and obeyed, his thin shoulders bent in a sulk. "You used to be _fun_," he told Shippou, and slouched out. Two adults followed him, apparently without having to be told to.

Kagome turned her head to watch them go – _Kouga's son_, she thought. It was a strange concept... but no stranger, she supposed, than anything else that had happened in the nine years she'd missed. In fact, the idea of Kouga having a son was actually easier to deal with than that of Shippou being grown up, but perhaps that was only because she'd met Shippou first, and Kenichi was thus less of a shock.

When she was quite sure Kenichi was out of earshot, Ayame directed Shippou to put Kouga down on a bed of rushes in one of the dryer corners of the cavern, next to where the one-legged male was. Although he was stirring, Kouga was still only semi-conscious. His eyelids fluttered and he intermittently twitched and mumbled to himself, but he was clearly unaware of his surroundings. Kagome had subconsciously expected that now that he was free of the shards and whatever influence they'd been having on him, he would start to look more like himself, but he did not. If anything, he actually looked even thinner and wearier than he had when he attacked them on the mountainside.

That observation reminded her of something. "So there was a real mononoke once?" she asked.

Ayame didn't answer. She sat down next to Kouga and took his pulse.

"There was," the one-legged male spoke up. "Some sort of monster, at least. Kouga-sama and three others went to fight it, and they never came back." He paused. "You're Kouga-sama's human, aren't you?"

"I'm Kagome," she replied. "Can you tell me anything else?"

The one-legged male thought for a moment. "Before he left... for a few months, he'd been a little strange. He got paranoid about those jewel shards of his – he would keep checking to see if they were still there, and he'd rub at the places until they bled, and then they didn't heal. Ayame-sama told him to get rid of them, and he hit her."

"Hideaki," said Ayame warningly.

"Oh, let him talk," said Shippou. "What could he possibly say that you don't want her to hear?"

Hideaki looked at Ayame for permission to continue, and when she didn't deny it, he went on: "so yes, Kouga-sama and the others vanished, and the monster became more vicious. We thought perhaps they had angered it. It began killing anything that crossed its path."

"When did you find out it was Kouga?" asked Kagome. "Was it the smell?"

Hideaki shook his head. "No. His wounds were festering, and that was all he smelled of, was the rot. Then, two years ago, Ayame-sama went..."

Ayame herself cut him off. "I was hunting, and I saw him," she said. "He didn't recognize me. He would have killed me, but I shouted his name, and that seemed to confuse him." Her voice was carefully even, refusing to betray any emotion at all. "I ran, and I got away." She paused, then added, "Hakakku didn't."

As if responding to her, Kouga moaned. His eyes opened slowly, but remained unfocussed, looking at infinity. Kagome crept closer to look at him, and Souten and Shippou bent in to see. A few more minutes passed in tense silence before Kouga really seemed to look at them, and then he blinked at the faces hanging over him as if he couldn't quite understand what they were.

Finally, his brow furrowed. "Kagome?" he rasped.

"Yes?" she said. She took Kouga's hand and squeezed it, trying not to think about his cracked skin and missing nails. "It's me. And Ayame's here, too."

Kouga followed her eyes. "Aya?" He looked at his mate and frowned. "Ayame?"

Ayame had been calm until now, but when Kouga said her name, her eyes filled suddenly with tears. She licked the corners of her mouth. "Hello," she said.

He frowned, confused, and reached up to touch the long scar on her face. "Where did you get that?" he asked.

Her face contorted with the effort of not bursting into noisy tears. "From a monster," she said.

Kouga blinked twice, then began trying to sit up. Kagome quickly grabbed his arm. "Kouga," she said, "I don't think you should do that yet!"

"Where am I?" he asked thickly.

"It's all right," said Ayame, gently pushing him back down onto the rushes. "You're home."

"Home? How did I get home?" Kouga looked at Kagome. "I saw you!" he said, his voice blurring. "I was... I was _dead_. I was dead, and I saw you, and you brought me back. And _you_ came back. You came back!" His eyes were wild, the pupils enormous.

"Yes," said Kagome. "I came back." She thought for a moment. "Kouga, how did you die?"

"Huh?" he asked, trying to sit up again.

"You said you were dead," Kagome reminded him, gripping his arm tight to help Ayame make him lie down. "How did you die?"

"How am I supposed to know? I was _dead_," said Kouga. "It's like I was dreaming, over and over, the same damned dream again." His head swayed slowly back and forth. "It was Naraku."

"Naraku?" said Kagome. Finally, some real information. "Naraku. He killed you?"

"No," said Kouga. "No, he's dead. Kikyou... Kikyou killed him... Kikyou..." his voice trailed off. How awake was he, Kagome wondered? He'd been speaking almost normally at first, but now he was babbling... and yet she could sense a desperate urgency behind it, as if his mind were struggling to make sense while his body just wasn't up to it. "When was that?" he asked.

Shippou stood up. "I think I'm going to go see how Kenichi's doing," he said to nobody in particular. He turned and left the cavern.

"When was that?" Kouga repeated, and the sudden panic in his voice seemed to bring him back into focus. "That was a long time ago, wasn't it? And I..." he looked at Ayame and touched her face again, his eyes and mouth wide with horror. "I did that," he said.

"No, you didn't." Ayame grabbed his hand, shaking her head hard. "That wasn't you."

"Yes, it was," said Kouga. "I did it because I thought you were going to take..." he stopped. His hands went to his leg, where one shard should have been, and his breathing quickened as he realized that it wasn't there. ""Where are they?"

"They're gone," said Kagome. "They're gone and they can't hurt you anymore."

"They're mine!" said Kouga. "Give them to me!"

"No!" Ayame grabbed him. "Not yet. You're... you're sick. You need to get better."

"I want them back!" he roared, reaching for Kagome.

Souten reached out and touched the back of his neck. Exactly what she did, Kagome couldn't see, but Kouga's eyes suddenly rolled up, and he slumped into Ayame's arms, unconscious again. Souten self-consciously wiped her hands on her trousers as she stood. "He'll be out for a few hours," she said, "but I think he'll still need some real sleep."

"Thank you," said Kagome, shaken.

Ayame arranged Kouga's arms and legs on the rushes. "How could you do that?" she demanded of Kagome. "Just start interrogating him as soon as he woke up?"

"I'm sorry," said Kagome. "I just need to know what happened and I don't think I've got a lot of time. I need to fix this."

"It's a little late to fix it," Ayame said coldly.

"I have to _try_," Kagome insisted. "It would be worse if I came back after so long and just did nothing, wouldn't it?"

Ayame didn't answer. Kagome opened her backpack and pulled out the three shards she'd collected since she came back – Kaede's and the two she'd taken from Kouga last night. There didn't appear to be anything wrong with them... they were just shards of glass, eerily quiescent for things that had caused so much suffering.

"Kikyou killed Naraku," she murmured. That's what Kouga had said, and there didn't seem for the moment to be any reason to doubt it. Ayame had said that Kouga had been there, so he would know, and it fit with Shippou's statement that nobody had heard from Naraku in years. So that much seemed to be settled.

But if that was true, then logically, Kikyou would have retrieved Shikon no Tama for purification and safekeeping... yet it was clearly neither pure nor safe. These shards, however ordinary they looked, and be poisoning Kouga somehow. Judging from Hideaki's story, they'd been doing so slowly, affecting him for months before they finally drove him mad.

If Kikyou had destroyed Naraku... then who, or what, was corrupting the jewel?


End file.
